Category Archives: book review

some snarky book reviews

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Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire | I am actually sorry to give this book a poor review because it started off SO GOOD.  I honestly loved it for maybe the first half, this story about bad boy Travis Maddox, underground fighter, campus’s walking one-night stand, who falls hard for Abby Abernathy, who is trying to steer clear from Travis and everything he represents.  The book starts off fun and sexy and sweet, and you get wrapped up in Travis … and then … the book kinda falls apart.  At least for me.  Suddenly it involved mobsters and Las Vegas and Travis becomes a boy who is too whipped, and I wanted to be like, Please stop acting like that.  I read the entire book in one day, starting on my lunch break and finishing around 1 am.  Then I lay in bed thinking how annoyed I was with the second half, which felt like reading the rough and dirty version of that one movie where Drew Barrymore cries a lot (Mad Love?) mixed with A Walk to Remember (please no!) minus the cancer.  It was volatile, and I had the impression that the author wrote it in one night during which she got progressively more wasted.  Bummer.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare | Demon-hunting teenagers who interact with vampires, werewolves, faeries, and warlocks in the Brooklyn streets?  I was skeptical, but I’d read so many quotes from this series that I had grown intrigued enough to give it a go.  It was not the most well-written story I’d ever read, but it still sucked me in, which– as usual– was because I fell in love with one of the characters.  Jace Wayland, this arrogant, hilarious Shadowhunter.  I cared enough about Jace to read …

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare | The second book of what was originally supposed to be a trilogy but has since grown to include five books, with a sixth on its way.  This one was an improvement on the first, perhaps because by now I had gotten over the fact that I was reading books about demon-hunting teenagers, or maybe because now I knew the main characters better.  The tension in this book is palpable, so of course I read …

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare | The final book of the original trilogy, in which the stakes are even higher.  I realize that I haven’t really said anything about what these books are about, have I?  There are so many twists and turns in these books that I can’t really explain the subsequent books without putting in spoilers.  Anyway, the whole point of reading these books was Jace anyway.  Third book was the best of the three.  Intense, dark, scary, excellent twists.  Again, these books are never going to be classics, but they are fun and fast reads.  I feel a little guilty for liking them as  much as I did. 🙂  (Yes, my guilty pleasures post was about these books.)

I will probably start book four, City of Fallen Angels tomorrow.  What is wrong with me?

The Night Circus

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nightcircus“The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.”

I just finished reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, and let me tell you, it flabbergasted me.  I didn’t think that someone would be able to write about magic in a way that would rival Jo Rowling’s creativity, but Morgenstern is such a worthy contender!  The imagery in this book completely walloped me.

This is the story of two young magicians who are opponents in a game for which the circus is the venue.  It was not their idea or their decision, but they are the players, and they must play until the game is concluded.  Both Celia and Marco are creative geniuses, one-upping each other for years before they eventually fall in love.  But falling in love doesn’t work so well with the rules of the game.

There are really two stories in this novel, two stories that come together at the end.  The writing was masterful, utterly brilliant.  Morgenstern is not only a writer but also an artist, and that was very evident in her writing.  I just feel slack-jawed at the creativity of this story.  Each little scene was like a gorgeous vignette.

I still need to mull over the ending.

Please read this one.

literature, time, and other thoughts

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They were drawing me.  The books.

It was like my car was on autopilot– I thought I was headed to Dunn Bros, but when I drove past it, I wasn’t surprised.  Instead, I just let my car take me to Barnes and Noble.

It’s been a little while since I have been here.  Now that I have a membership and have free shipping, I’ve been buying most of my books online.  Today it wasn’t enough.  I had to be with them, surrounded by them, which is why I am drinking a banana chocolate smoothie, typing on my laptop alone, but feeling like I am in the company of friends– or future friends.

To be honest, I feel a little overwhelmed.  There are so many books I want to read, I don’t know when I’m going to find time to get to them all.  I perused the “Summer Reading” table and found more that intrigued me.  From where I sit, I can see the “New Fiction” shelves, and I wonder if I’ll ever have a book there.

I feel pulled so many ways.  I want to readreadREAD, but I am trying to balance that out with plenty of time for writing, which I love even more.  But my writing is informed and inspired by what I read, so I have to keep fueling that fire.  Those two activities alone could keep me busy until I die, I think, and yet– I have even more important things in my life than these.

People.  God.

I know everyone gets 24 hours a day, but I wish I could have more.  How am I supposed to be a loving, caring daughter and friend while working fulltime and writing a novel and feeding an obsessive reading habit– all while never neglecting my true love Jesus Christ and his church?

Praise God that OCD is no longer demanding so much of my attention.  How did I manage?  It feels like a different lifetime.

And yet, I have friends who do all this and take care of a spouse and children.  It boggles my mind.

I want my life to matter, want to leave a mark.  It seems difficult to do when my interests are so spread– I worry that my efforts in each area will be lacking because I didn’t have enough time invested into each one.

I think that one of the reasons I decided to keep a list of books I have read and reviewed (click THE READER tab above) was to try to organize at least one part of my life.  When I sit here in the bookstore, surrounded by all this brilliance, I know that there will be corners I never explore.  Somehow maybe this will help me keep better control of the labyrinth I’m in.

And what a beautiful labyrinth.

guilty pleasures

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One week ago, I read a book that was not exactly well-written, but I was still pretty fascinated and tore through it (and requested the next two books in the series from the library).  I announced to Facebook that I felt split in two, my reader-self warring with my writer-self.

I generally don’t read poorly-written books.

I know that’s a bold statement, but I figure that I have so many wonderful books on my list to read that I just won’t waste time with a book that doesn’t hold my interest or isn’t written well.

There are a few exceptions.  If I hear from enough people that I have to read a book which I have deemed as sub-par, then I have been known to cave to peer pressure just so that I can come back and tell them that I read it and still didn’t like it (since I am a literature snob.  I know, I know.).  The other exception would be if I have read an incredible book by an author in the past, then I will give the not-as-good book by the same author the benefit of the doubt, reading to the end, hoping for the author to redeem himself.  I feel I owe it to the author since he/she has already graced the literary world at one point.

But then there are these strange guilty pleasure books that I don’t even like to admit I read and enjoyed.  There aren’t a lot.  In fact, I feel like the last time I indulged in such a way was back in high school during the Left Behind series.  But last weekend I read a book about demon-hunting teenagers whose lives are full of killing, blood, and sexual tension.  I guess I will call it a guilty pleasure.

What are yours?

the writing life

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The writing life is a roller coaster.  Some days I feel confident in my writing skills and excited about the things that I am writing, and sometimes I think that I must be so blind and pretentious and disillusioned to think that I would ever write something beautiful enough to be published.  Right now, my roller coaster is going down … down … DOWN.

I set myself up for this, without even realizing I was doing it.  This weekend I went to Duluth with some writer friends, and in the same weekend, I asked for a critique of my manuscript’s first draft and I was re-reading The Fault in Our Stars.  This means that my story was ripped apart at the same time that I was engrossed in John Green’s masterpiece, a formula that adds up to believing that I am worthless as a writer and am wasting my time pursuing it all.

But I couldn’t quit if I wanted to.  And I don’t want to.

books books books

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Just finished …
Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson | Just from the description, I figured it would be a tearjerker– readers know upfront that Taylor’s dad is terminally ill, and before he dies, he wants the family to spend one last summer together at their lake home, which Taylor hasn’t been to since she was 12.  When they return, she has to face her former best friend and former boyfriend and deal with her dad’s illness.  Yes, of course I cried.  It was a really interesting premise, but I thought Matson could have done more with Henry, the love interest.  (I hate when I can’t really understand why two characters like one another.  Pet peeve.)  Anyway, I give it a solid B.

This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers | This is not your typical zombie book– sure there is an outbreak of the undead spreading across the country, but the real story in this book is about the dynamics between the six teenagers who have barricaded themselves inside their high school while the attack rages outside.  I was really, really impressed with this book.  A- and it made me check out all Summers’ other books from the library.

Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers | This is basically a book about b****y teenaged girls fighting with one another.  I was shocked at the cruelty, and I kept thinking, “Are high school girls really this bad?”  I felt like Summers anticipated that question with her book title, answering me, “Some girls are.”  It was frustrating to me because the main character Regina never seems to quite spit out what she needs to say.  That drives me crazy about book characters, and I realized it is probably because I have never really let that happen to me.  I am so vocal and usually refuse to be walked on.  The book gets a B from me– it was well-written, but it was so unedifying that it kinda just left me feeling low.

The Magician’s Nephew; The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; and The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis, even though I just finished reading the whole series.  Just started over, I guess.  I told you I was addicted.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green | Good, but not even close to The Fault in Our Stars.  Still, I adore John Green, and I have this secret desire to one day have published a YA book that has an endorsement blurb on it from him.  DFTBA.

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson | Just finished this one ten minutes ago (as I write this review), and I adored it.  Tinker Bell narrates the love story of Tiger Lily and Peter Pan and how everything changed when Wendy Darling came onto the scene.  Masterfully written.  Writer’s envy flaring up!  A wonderful story, but a sad one, which readers are warned about from the very first paragraph: “Let me tell you something straight off.  This is a love story, but not like any you’ve ever heard.  The boy and the girl are far from innocent.  Dear lives are lost.  And good doesn’t win.  In some places, there is something ultimately good about endings.  In Neverland, that is not the case.”

Currently reading…
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by Jo Rowling.  I missed my friends and needed to get back to Hogwarts.  Just wrapping this one up.  I love the story more every time I read it.  Do you remember where you were the first time you read it?  I do.  A hotel in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and every couple of minutes, I would do a frantic inventory in my head: “The diary … the ring … the locket … the cup … what am I missing?!”

About to purchase (once my B&N gift card arrives!) …
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
3 AM Epiphany by Brian Kiteley

The Fault in Our Stars

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I know I’ve mentioned this book before, but it really deserves its own post.

TFiOS is a young adult novel written by John Green, and while it has characters with cancer in it, I would never classify this as a “cancer book” (cough, Lurlene McDaniels).  This book is clever, FUNNY, moving, and it has incredible characters, most especially ♥ Augustus Waters ♥.

You really ought to read it.

I will say this:

1) This book made me cry both during and after I read it.  During because I was so involved in the story and after because I was so envious of John Green’s writing abilities.  (I am not joking– I’ve told you before I struggle with writer envy!)

2) I was working on an adult novel about a woman who discovers she was adopted when she inherits her birth parents’ estate, but after I readThe Fault in Our Stars, I completely scrapped that story and started over, making my debut writing YA lit.  That was in January, and now, in July, I have a first draft of a YA story!

So TFiOS is very important to me.  In some ways, it feels as if this book birthed my own.  I hope that makes sense to you.  This book and John Green were so much my muses as I wrote my story (working title Her Truest Lamentation) that I set it in the fictional town of Green Lake to throw props to John Green.

Request it from the library or buy your own copy at Barnes and Noble andread this story.  And then let me know what you think of it.

Why I Love YA Lit

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Young adult literature is my favorite to read, regardless of how old I am.  While I in no way eschew literature written specifically for adults, YA is at the top of my list for these reasons:

1) So much drama!
I think of myself when I was in high school and college, and it’s true that I was a Drama Queen.  While I am not proud of it, I do think that drama in literature keeps things exciting!  Love triangles, deaths, adventures, secrets, fights … and that’s just at Hogwarts!

2) Incredible characters.
Teenagers are fascinating, opinionated, and passionate.  When we write about them, we end up with characters who are full of energy and who often haven’t found a rhythm or routine to life yet.  Hence, Augustus Waters, Anne Shirley, Stargirl Carraway.

3) So much life ahead of them = so many options!
Not to mention, so many lessons to learn.  I love watching young characters take on the world and grow so much from the beginning to the end of a story.  Anything is possible when you’re seventeen!  Everything is shiny and new and full of wonder, which we see as we watch Liesel Meminger learn to read or Edmund Pevensie discover who he truly is.

4) Accessible.
Don’t get me wrong; I find literary fiction to be gorgeous.  But I side with C.S. Lewis who encouraged writers to always choose the shorter word.  YA lit is like the ESV version of the Bible– dead-on accuracy but also very readable, nothing sacrificed.

And believe me, I don’t think that YA writers need to (or should) sacrifice any of the beauty or imagery or depth.  John Green is a pioneer in this, and I love that he writes for very intelligent teenagers who love to think.  They are out there, he says, and we ought not insult them.  Agreed.

Do you like YA lit?  How come?

books books books

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Just finished:
the whole Narnia series (again)

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith — it was okay, kinda sweet, didn’t knock my socks off
Mister Death’s Blue-eyed Girls by Mary Downing Hahn — not the best-written book ever, but especially interesting since it was based off a true event in the author’s childhood

Chloe and the Lion by Mac Barnett, a children’s book about writing a children’s book, super cute

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan, a fascinating futuristic retelling of The Scarlet Letter, set in a society where criminals’ skin is dyed according to their crime.  It was fun to see the parallels with Hawthorne’s story.  I really liked this book except for one scene that was completely out of place and (I believe) cheaply inserted by the author to make her book trendier.

Naked and Me Talk Pretty One Day, both by David Sedaris — so ridiculously funny!  I am talking literally laugh-outloud funny.  But also sometimes inappropriate.  Proceed with caution. 🙂  But I love David Sedaris, and his audiobooks are even better than the paper versions because you get to hear the stories exactly the way he intends.  I listened in my car and kept wondering what the drivers around me were thinking of the weirdo in the Stratus who was laughing like a madwoman with no one in the passenger seat.

Currently reading:
That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis — breathtaking.

The Name of this Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch — a children’s story, riveting.  The narrator is very, very intrusive, and I kind of adore it.  So good.  Would be a fascinating read for late elementary-aged students, perhaps fifth grade.

Up next:
About fifteen books (mostly novels) about synesthesia, which I will blog about on Friday!

Any suggestions for my next must-read book?

a room of one’s own

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Have you read the book?  Virginia Woolf wrote a whole book (compiled, I think, from some lectures she gave) based on the premise that in order for a woman to write, she needed two things: 1) an incandescent mind (freedom from worrying about life) and 2) money (in other words, a room of one’s own).

My freshman year of college I wrote a research paper that violently argued against this idea– a very convincing and well-written paper, if I do say so myself.

Years later, I began to doubt myself and agree with old Virgie.  Man oh man, if only I had enough money so that I wouldn’t have to worry about how to support myself (how to pay rent, how to buy groceries, which career option is best, etc.), I think I would write SO WELL.

Anyway, this is my public apology to Virginia Woolf.  Although I still think she was wrong to attack Charlotte Bronte.