Category Archives: reading

Book Characters I’d Like Updates On

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I’ve told you before that I think a lot about book characters outside of the actual novels. Here are a few characters I’d like to check in with.

Susan Pevensie | After the railway accident … (I’ve actually thought about this one so much that I wrote a story about it called “Nine Names“)

Raffy & Chaz | In Jellicoe Road, it is hinted that these two have a story that continues. I want to know it.

Jimmy Hailer | Always. And Melina Marchetta keeps hinting that we’re actually going to get his story too:

jimmy hailer 2

Rose Weasley | And Scorpius Malfoy too. Duh.

poppetPoppet Murray | Take me back to The Night Circus please, Erin Morgenstern– I want Poppet and Bailey’s love story!

Maddie Brodatt & Jamie Beaufort-Stuart | Fascinated by these two from Code Name:Verity and Rose Under Fire. Want more.

Puck & Sean | But of course. I’ve got my head-canon, but I want Maggie Stiefvater’s words.

Quintana of Charyn | If you can’t tell, my answer is always, “More Marchetta please!”

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Broke & Bookish.

Recent Reads

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all the bright places2All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
This book. You guys. This book. In it, we meet Violet Markey as well as Theodore Finch, who stole my heart and broke it. The characters in this book were phenomenal and layered, and I value that so much. Great characters are my #1 thing, even more than beautiful writing. If you give me great characters, I’ll be a slave to your writing prowess. I was so, so captured by these characters and their beautiful and heartbreaking story. Let’s just say that both Violet and Finch are hurting souls, and the opening scene is them meeting on the ledge of the school bell tower, both on the verge of jumping. Go. Read. This. Book. I need to be able to talk about it with someone.

i'll meet you thereI’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios
This book was pretty un-put-downable. I tore through it. The reviews have been nothing but raving, and I’m pleased to say that I loved it as well. It’s a story about Skylar “Sky” Evans, who wants nothing more than to escape her hometown, and about Josh Mitchell, a Marine who returns home without his leg. There are a couple of Ultimate No-No’s that characters can do in books that are sort of “unforgivable” for me … and this one had one. But I still really loved it. A lot. And highly recommend that you read it.

peter panPeter Pan by J.M. Barrie
What a treat this book is! I’ve long known the story of Peter Pan, Wendy Darling, Captain Hook, the lost boys, and all the rest … but knowing the story didn’t prepare me for the gem of this book. It was delightful. The voice is incredible and fascinating and clever. It reminded me a little of Alice in Wonderland in the way it made me think– but it was even more enjoyable! I tore through this novel breathlessly … even though I already knew what would happen. Find a copy of this sweet story for your own.

forgive me leonard peacockForgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick
This book is essentially a day in the life of high school student Leonard Peacock– in particular, the day he has planned to kill one of his classmates and then himself. It is dark, heavy stuff– but there are lots of moments of good, lighter times too. I don’t want to say a lot about this one except that I’m really glad I read it (I listened to the audio version), and you should read it too.

All the LightAll the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
I’m still sorting out my thoughts on this book, which has been called “the most important book of 2014”– in another place on the internet, I’ve heard it called “the most important book of the decade.” It’s a World War II story, alternating perspectives of a young, brilliant French girl and a young, brilliant German boy. I felt quite at home with this book for adults, since the characters were young people, just like in the YA stories I typically read. This book was more literary, slower, very beautiful, but very sad. I … liked it. I did not love the way it ended. In fact, I nearly chose to stop reading with only about thirty pages left. But I’m glad I did. This book is lovely, important, beautiful, well-written, and I’m glad I read it. I don’t want to say much more. It was its own experience reading this story. I am ready for more YA now. 🙂

Unwind Dystology by Neal Shusterman

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unwind dystologyI’m an unlikely fan of Neal Shusterman’s Unwind dystology. I don’t normally go for the high-octane, super-intense, action-packed books.

But I love this series.

It’s set after the Heartland War, a war between the Pro-Life and Pro-Choice movements, and the compromise that they’ve arrived at is to ban abortion but to allow teenagers to be “unwound”: every organ used in donation. Since all body parts are still alive, this is not seen as killing the teenager; rather, they are “living in a divided state.”

Totally creepy, right?

I loved the characters in this series. There are three main ones, although every book adds more POVs, more well-drawn characters. Connor, the Akron AWOL, on the run from his own unwinding; Risa, a ward of the state being unwound due to budget cuts; and Lev, a “tithe” who has been raised his whole life to believe that his unwinding will be giving his life back to God.

Book one: awesome.  (Bonus: includes the most disturbing scene I’ve ever read in YA ever.)
Book two: even better. (Bonus: Miracolina.)
Book three: love this series. (Bonus: frenemies/rivals/awkward love triangle!)
Book four: everything at stake. (Bonus: all your beloved favorites make an appearance.)

This was a really thought-provoking series for me, and I’d love to talk it over with someone who has read it. What did you like? Did anything bother you about the ending? Who was your favorite character? Which scenes made you sick to your stomach? Was the premise hard for you to believe?

Obviously, if you haven’t read this series, avoid the comments section due to SPOILERS!

Recent Reads

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janie face to faceJanie Face to Face by Caroline B. Cooney | Do you remember The Face on the Milk Carton? It was published back in 1990 and was an important book in my childhood, about a girl who saw a picture of herself on a milk carton ad about an abducted child. This book is the last of the Janie books, and I think it was mostly nostalgia and the desire for a neat conclusion that drove me to read it. The sad truth is that I didn’t find it well-written, which confused me and made me wonder if maybe Milk Carton hadn’t been as good as I’d thought. So I went back to it, and no– it still held up. But Janie Face to Face just didn’t. It covered years much too quickly, and it made Janie and Reeve seem a bit ridiculous. It was a let-down, but at least now I know what happened to everyone!

wild awakeWild Awake by Hilary T. Smith | This book was fascinating and visceral, exciting and sad and overwhelming. It’s the story of Kiri, a piano prodigy whose parents leave her at home for a month while they travel the world, and about what happens while they’re gone (hint: a lot). It was an eye-opening look at bipolar disorder, and I’ve already added Smith’s next book to be TBR list, though it doesn’t come out till May.

undividedUndivided by Neal Shusterman | Wow, okay. So, you guys know that I have been dying for this final book in the Unwind Dystology, and it did not disappoint! In fact, I have a confession to make: at one point, I was so overwhelmed with the story that I had to peek at the ending. Isn’t that just awful? I try not to do that, but Shusterman is such an intense, keep-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat, nothing-is-too-sacred-to-keep writer that I just had to. Anyway, I was very, very pleased with the book, and I’m going to write up a whole blog post about this series, since I’m such a big fan. I highly recommend this series but have to warn you: it contains some of the most intense scenes I’ve ever read. Actually, the first book– Unwind— has a scene that might haunt me till the day I die. Worth. It.

magnoliaMagnolia by Kristi Cook | This book was billed as a “backward Romeo and Juliet“– that is, the families want the kids together, but the kids are not interested. It wasn’t really my cup of tea (or sweet tea– it’s a Southern novel!) because I didn’t think the main characters had much chemistry. (Gosh, I hate bad-mouthing books because I know how much work goes into them! I’m sure lots of other people will like this book, but it wasn’t for me.)

blue lilyBlue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater | I’ve basically been frothing at the mouth for this book, and– as one would expect from Maggie Stiefvater– it was fantastic. Her characters just kill me. They are so deep and complicated and broken and beautiful. I hope that someday I can write such intense, complex characters as Stiefvater does. To be honest, I’d not be particularly interested in the premises of her books (which tend to be about things like mythical water horses and sleeping Welsh kings), but the characters make everything more than worth it. This is the third book in a four-book series, so I’ll return to my frothing-at-the-mouth for now.

shaking the treesShaking the Trees by Azra Tabassum | Another poet I found via Tumblr. I really liked this book, though I did think that the poems suffered a tiny bit from her young age. One thing that I really loved about this collection of poems was that there was a narrative arc to the poems. You actually follow a couple through the highs and lows of their relationship as you go through the pages, which was incredibly satisfying and something I’ll be looking for in future poetry books.

And for the little readers …

book with no picturesThe Book with No Pictures by BJ Novak | This book is so much fun! It doesn’t have pictures, but the words are so fun and goofy that kids will love it anyway. I love the way that Novak is able to display the power of words alone to young readers via this book. I bought several copies already.

poem that heals fishThis is a Poem that Heals Fish by Jean-Pierre Simeon | My friend Kathy Ellen Davis, a fantastic children’s writer herself (check out her website here!), sent me this book, and it was fun and lovely and a super adorable search for the answer to What exactly is a poem? I loved it so much and can’t wait to read it to my favorite kiddos!

What have you been reading lately?

Books I Re-Read LIKE A BOSS

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HK.ColinI’ve heard all the reasons before for why people don’t re-read books– and I’ll allow each his own– but I really can’t understand it. Refusing to re-read favorite books is, to me, the equivalent of saying, “Why would I want to hang out with my best friend? I’ve done that before, and there are so many new people to meet.”

Can. Not. Fathom.

Did you know that I listen to The Chronicles of Narnia nearly every single night as I fall asleep? They are my faithful bedtime story, and I never get sick of them. I’ve been known to listen to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe multiple times in a row: I listen, it ends, I start it over, it’s all good. One time I listened to The Horse and His Boy something like five or six times in one month. Every year I plan to keep track of how often I read these books in the course of a year, but sometime halfway through, I lose track.

The Book Thief is always, always a fantastic re-read.  The snowman in the basement and the hair like lemons and the sun painted on the wall. This book is one of the novels that changed my life, and returning to it is like returning home, like finding myself in the space where the light flipped on in my writer heart.

I could never tire of re-reading The Last Unicorn. There are lines in this novel that are like friends to me. I could never tire of them. Every single time I re-read them, I feel astonished, as if I just found a diamond resting under a leaf. I would surrender wheelbarrows of unread manuscripts just to make sure that I could keep this one in my possession forever.

Then, of course, there’s scripture– which is the only living and active book I know. I will re-read this one for life. (And, yes, I meant that two ways.)

How about you? Which books can you read over and over and over again?  Or– if you don’t re-read– try to convince me you’re sane. 🙂

Image credit: HK.Colin

Recent Reads

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anne lamott 3Help Thanks Wow & Stitches by Anne Lamott | It’ll be no surprised that I adored these books. Anne Lamott’s words– whether I’m reading one of her books, listening to her speak, or gulping down her Facebook posts– feel sacred, true, and deep. I absolutely adore her as a writer– and as a person. I would read her grocery lists. Help Thanks Wow is about the three essential prayers of the title. Stitches is about “meaning, hope, and repair.” I listened to both of these books on audio, at night, in the dark, and each one was like applying balm to my broken heart.

what we buriedWhat We Buried by Caitlyn Siehl | I purchased this book of poetry after bumping into some of Caitlyn’s free verse online. There were some gems in this collection, though I think her youth showed in the book (she is in her twenties). Not one I’ll revisit often, but it was still worth the read!

lips touchLips Touch: Three Times Laini Taylor | I would not have ever picked up such a book except that it was written by the indomitable Laini Taylor. It’s a collection of three short stories, and they were a treat.  Short stories are not my forte, and I’m bowled over when a short story can capture me in such a small space. These ones were fantastic, full of the powerful, literary prose you’d expect from Laini Taylor. When I finished the book, I was flummoxed and got into a little tweet-happy mini-convo with Laini and her husband Jim.

lips touch tweets

all our yesterdaysAll Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill | I love time travel in books. I love when two stories are really one story. This book had both, plus a shocking twist ending. Picture this: in the future, your best friend becomes evil, so you need to go back in time to kill him. Only your childhood self is in the past, working hard to protect him from you. Yup: mind-bending. An engrossing read, though not a new favorite (I’m pretty darn picky).

jandyI’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson | Oh yes. I pre-ordered this book at my first sniff that it existed. I’ve been so, so looking forward to this book, and it did not disappoint. This is the story of twins Noah and Jude, told in dual POV: from 13-year-old Noah before the tragedy and from 16-year-old Jude after it. So clever!  I loved it, loved the characters, loved all the art, loved Jandy Nelson’s mastery of language (she’s studied poetry, and it shows), loved the complicated emotions it evoked from me. It was a sad, heavy book. It occurs to me now that The Sky is Everywhere is sad too … but I felt that it had more light than this one (probably thanks to Joe Fontaine). Regardless, this book is incredible, a must-read.

What have you read recently? What’s up next for you?