The Maze Runner
James Dashner



rating: 8.5 out of 10 "books"

Have you ever intentionally not done something because someone recommended you do it? I’m talking about parents ordering you to clean your room or friends saying you should check out a certain movie, etc. Well, my discovery of The Maze Runner by James Dashner fell into this category. My little sister had been bugging me for months on end, telling me that I just had to read this little book called The Maze Runner despite my constant reluctance to read it simply because she was recommending it (I must add that this was exactly how it went with reading all the Harry Potter books, and of course once I picked up the first one I was hooked). Needless to say, my sister was right yet again, and within reading the first few pages of The Maze Runner I was dying to know how the book ended.

Amazon describes the book way better than I can so if you’ve followed me this far, keep reading (!):

“When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls. Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift. Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.” – Amazon.com book description

The Glade itself sounds pretty amazing: an agricultural type community completely run by the boys. They have plenty of food, a boy who turns out to be an awesome chef to cook it up, and an impressively set up council to run the Glade. Anything else they need is pretty much sent up to them upon request from the Creators. Unfortunately for them however, the Glade is right smack in the middle of a maze and the man-eating creatures that dwell inside it make it utterly impossible to escape. The boys who’ve volunteered to be maze runners have spent two years trying to figure out the exit to the maze, but the fact that its walls change every night has made it extremely difficult to solve. Thomas, despite having had his memory wiped, has the eerie feeling that he’s been in the maze before and may be the Gladers last hope for escape.

There are so many other little tidbits that make this book super interesting. For instance, the Gladers have their own slang and predisposed knack (implanted by the Creators?) for one of the jobs around the Glade. Even more weird, is the painful process the boys go through called The Change that results from a Glader being “stung” by one of the Grievers (maze monsters) and administered a “cure,” that in the process gives the boys part of their memories back.

I have had so many patrons come into my library branch trying to find a cool YA book for guys. I can honestly, whole-heartedly say that this book is amazing, especially for boys (but definitely girls too… it’s got a little romance, ladies!) Yes, it has a little of the stereotypically guy-friendly Sci-Fi, a little Fantasy, but it’s also got something that I don’t think many other “guy-type” books have. I can’t put my finger on it, and maybe it’s just the general awesomeness of The Maze Runner, but I think anyone interested in dystopian fiction or the whole Hunger Games craze should check this series out. Even though it is technically YA, I think this book passes as Adult Fiction as well.

One Day
David Nicholls



rating: 6 out of 10 "books"

I don’t know if I find books that are going to be made into movies or they find me (okay, I often find them), but one of my most recent adventures to half-priced books landed me on One Day by David Nicholls. I’ve heard a lot of buzz behind this book, and I definitely know that a lot of book clubbers out there are reading this one, so I decided to give it a go. This one’s for you, guys!

One Day is the story of Emma and Dexter, newly graduates of University in England and blossoming friends after a one night stand on graduation night. As the title suggests, the story follows the two over a period of twenty years, beginning in 1988, and drops in on each character on the same day each progressing year. Sometimes Dexter and Emma are together, other times they are each doing their own thing. One Day looks at how each person deals with life, love, and the search for oneself. Non-apologetic playboy, Dexter, or Dex, spends a lot of his time partying and messing up his life, while ultra-serious Emma, or Em, contemplates why life has less than exceeded her expectations. Despite the seemingly polar opposite personalities of the two, Em and Dex find security and happiness most when they are together, but different their life paths often result in conflict between the two. One Day is ultimately a love story of how two peoples’ lives can be intertwined over a long period of time, whether knowingly or not, and the decisions and actions that can either bring them together, or tear them apart.

Before I endorse this book I need to throw in a disclaimer for those just beginning the book. While the book does get off to an extremely slow start it does get better. Let me repeat that: IT DOES GET BETTER!!! This was definitely one of those books that I had to put down and walk away from multiple times. Granted, I don’t like to give up on books easily, but I will give up on one if it completely (excuse my word-age), sucks! But let me say this, although One Day and I got off to a rough start, I found myself in tears by the end of the book. If I hadn’t of been reading in a very public place, I probably would have been bawling my eyes out. Call me highly emotional (I probably am), but this book was worth it to me in the end. The English slang does take some getting used to (it’s a little annoying and makes for a dry read in some places), but overall, I’d recommend picking up Nicholls’ One Day.

UPDATE:

Sorry I've been so MIA lately bloggers! It seems I've hit another one of my blogging slumps :( Work and illnesses have kept me away from the computer for quite awhile... It also doesnt' help that all my favorite shows are coming to a season end that has me glued to my tv! But never fear, I've got some posts lined up and some pretty fantastic books to voice my opinion on, so stay tuned!

The DUFF: (Designated Ugly Fat Friend)
Kody Keplinger




I hate when I put off reviewing books for awhile and then come back only to have forgotten most of a book or why I did or didn’t like it. Forgive me readers, but I’ve come to a bit of a slump when it comes to reading (and reviewing) books.

Anyways… The DUFF, or designated ugly fat friend, refers to the one female friend of the group who isn’t quite as beautiful or maybe as interesting as the rest. Bianca Piper is THAT girl amongst her two best friends. Bianca knows this subconsciously, and for the most part is ok with it, but it isn’t until class playboy and total d-bag, Wesley, personally calls her a DUFF that Bianca becomes self conscious. As if it wasn’t enough already that her friends are totally gorgeous, but when Wesley tells Bianca that he is only talking to her to get inside her two friends pants, Bianca angrily throws her coke all over Wesley.

While Bianca knows that she shouldn’t let the harsh words of scum like Wesley get to her, she can’t help but dwell on her nickname. Things certainly don’t look up for Bianca either, when she and Wesley are assigned to work on an English paper together, requiring outside school time to complete the homework. As tensions rise at home for Bianca and divorce threatens to destroy her family, the last thing Bianca needs is aggravation from the school man-slut. But without a proper outlet for all of her emotional buildup, Bianca horrifyingly finds herself kissing Wesley – and liking it. A very surprised (and smug) Wesley reciprocates, and the two find themselves using each other. Of course, like any other no strings attached relationship, Bianca soon finds herself (gasp!) crushing hard on Wesley. The question becomes whether Bianca will actually admit to herself that she wants more from Wesley than just fooling around, and whether Wesley could ever be attracted to the DUFF?

Final thoughts? I liked this book. While I found the plotline very unlikely; not the part where a total hottie falls for the less attractive (but by no means ugly) girl, but the interaction between the two main characters…(this is high school after all, is a guy really going to profess his love in a note the way Wesley does?), I really enjoyed the characters, especially Bianca. She reminded me a lot of Jessica Darling in Sloppy Firsts, Second Helpings ET. Al. I love a snarky female character who is very sure of herself. While Bianca may not have had the best self-esteem at times, she was very level headed for a high school girl. She realized that it was pretty ridiculous to be in love with someone at the high school age. She saw through what most teenage girls (at her school and otherwise) could not, especially about Wesley. At the beginning of the story, much to the bewilderment of her friends, Bianca had no interest in Wesley. She saw through his attractiveness and saw what a creep he was. It was only until getting to know him and his situation that she discovered the front he put up for everyone.

I really liked that Keplinger mentioned everyone feeling like the DUFF in some shape or form. No one is completely happy with their looks. It was refreshing to read about Bianca’s two friends confessing to having doubts about their appearances as well, beautiful or not. I look forward to reading more by Kody Keplinger. I wish I could write as well as she does, especially being as young as she is!

Happy St. Patrick's day bloggers! May the luck of the Irish be with you all!!!

check back soon for more book reviews to come!

Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have
A Novel by Allen Zadorff



rating: 8.5 out of 10 "books"

High School is hard enough without being a size 48 waist. For Andrew Zansky, High School is just one more place where he can be reminded that he doesn’t, and will never, fit in. As the second fattest kid in school, an average day for Andy means trying to squeeze into his pants, praying that he’ll fit into his desk at school, and hiding from a beating by the school bully. However, as much as being overweight sucks, Andy has grown to mostly accept it; it’s in his genes after all. His friendship with class clown Eytan and involvement in the model UN club at school almost makes up for the over-protectiveness of his caterer mother, absentee father, and over abundance of flab.

Of course all this changes once he meets geek chic April. Knowing he has zero chance with her, Andy can’t help but try to dream up a plan to make April his. So when a routine bully pummeling leads to a chance encounter with O. Douglass, captain of the football team and teen dream guy, Andy is presented with the opportunity to drastically change his fat nerd status: by joining the football team. All of a sudden Andy is embraced by the popular elite of his school. No longer a “nobody,” Andy finds himself hanging out and attending the popular crowd’s parties and other extracurricular activities. April, who’s joined the cheerleading squad, is now part of his everyday life. And best of all, as a football player, Andrew’s “fatness” has become an asset and not a detriment, helping him protect quarterback O. Douglass on the field.

The big question Allen Zadorff’s (notice any closeness between the names Allen Zadorff and Andrew Zansky? Could this novel be semi-autobiographical?) novel asks is “how far would you go to fit it?” Because while Andy is enjoying all the perks that come with his new life, it has meant giving up some of his old; like his previous friends and activities… even risking his life on the field because of his extreme asthma, all so he can maybe have a chance with April. But Andrew is finding out the hard way that fitting in and being popular may not really be all that it is cracked up to be.

I really enjoyed this novel. I feel like there’s not enough YA books out there that a lot of guys can relate to, and “Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have” is a book that anyone; guy, girl, fat, thin, young, and old can relate to. The story told from Andrew’s point of view is written so humorously, that while you feel bad for Andy’s situation, you can’t help but laugh at little at some of his comments. The best part of this novel though, I thought, came at the end when Andy (through the course of events) realized that being popular really was not all that great, and that some of the popular kids who he thought were his friends really were not so wonderful. I think this story is a great lesson in loving who you are and not trying to change yourself for the approval of others. So to all the jocks, the princesses, the loners, the basket cases, and the geeks (breakfast club reference anyone?!), go out and read this book!

Matched
Ally Condie



rating: 7.5 out of 10 "books"

Dystopian fiction seems to be all the rage these days and while I feel like I need to switch gears over here and start reading (and reviewing) other types of fiction, I can’t seem to tear myself away. I’m one of those readers who will read things based on “buzz.” The more a magazine, journal, whathaveyou talks about a particular book of interest, the more I want to read it (see my upcoming review of the controversial “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.”) So when I kept seeing Matched by Ally Condie pop up everywhere, I knew I had to take a peek.

In the perfect world of the Society, Cassia is one of the many perfect citizens; she follows the rules, doesn’t question anything or anyone, and like everyone else: believes she is happy. And why shouldn’t she be? The Society provides for everyone. There is no war, no hunger, no suffering or disease. Cassia knows exactly when she will die because Society plans it out for every citizen to be at 80 years old. Everything is so perfectly planned that the Society even figures out who a citizen’s perfect match is, based on the collection and analysis of tons of data. So when Cassia is matched with her best friend Xander, it’s a wonderful surprise for both parties. Most matches don’t even know each other, let alone live close enough to one another, so it comes as a very strange occurrence for the whole town.

The problem arises when Cassia goes to look over Xander’s bio data one day, even though she already knows everything about him. Along with Xander’s photo in her match material, a flash of someone else appears – someone Cassia also knows. This in turn sets off a chain of events that completely turns what Cassia thought she knew about life in the Society upside down. On top of questioning her match with Xander, Cassia now worries about the perfect planning set in motion by the Society. As she begins to discover some ugly truths about her “perfect” world, Cassia starts down a path she can never come back from.

This story and I got off to a slow start, but I can’t deny that it got pretty page turn-y at the end. I can definitely see how people have complained that this is yet another piece of Twilight-esque teen dribble, with a thoughtless, selfish female character torn between two gorgeous teenage boys. I can definitely agree that a lot of what Cassia does in the story is very stupid; obsessing over a guy simply because he accidentally appeared on her screen and is mysterious, and so on. But when you think about it, isn’t this much like what today’s teenage girls do anyways? Obsess over the tiniest of details about the opposite sex? So honestly, I can see why the author made this such a huge deal for Cassia. But I also read some pretty redeeming story points that made up for the cheesiness; the fact that each citizen carries 3 separate tablets for different situations, the idea of “artifacts” that the townspeople have from waaaay back when (like 2011) which most have no idea what these artifacts are or what they do, and the concept of the matching ceremonies themselves. I’m definitely the type of reader who doesn’t need some sort of big intellectual point at the end of my story. I’m not exactly the biggest fluff reader either. But hey, sometimes fluff is not a bad thing.

Oh, on another note readers -- I've also heard that they're thinking of turning "Matched" into a movie :)

Infinite Days
Rebecca Maizel



rating: 8.5 out of 10 "books"


If I had to quickly summarize the past decade in TV, movies, and literature it’d probably go something like this: girl falls in love with sparkly vampire but is torn between her feelings for her werewolf friend. Or how about this one: girl falls in love with vampire in southern town where vampires are well known of and even catered to with a drink called Tru Blood. Annnnd wash, rinse, repeat. There are so many vampire books out there it’s overwhelming. Well, get ready for one more. But before you close this page in disgust over this reviewers post, let me tell you that this story is a little bit different. Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel tells a story unlike so much of the dribble out there. Instead of Maizel’s vampire character wishing she was human like every other vampire in recent storytelling Lenah Beaudonte, super evil vampire, actually wakes up one day completely human.

Okay. It’s a little more complicated than that. Throw in an ex-vampire soul mate, a ritual, and a little magic and you start to get the picture. Longing for a human life again, Lenah would give anything to change who she is. She’s grown tired of and almost crazy from her destructive vampire life. No longer proud of all the lives she’s taken to make her the most powerful female vampire, Lenah needs a way out. That’s where Rhode, her first vampire love (and the one who made her), fits in. He claims to have found a way to transform Lenah back to her human form. The only problem is the powerful coven of vampires Lenah has created to protect her and who will stop at nothing to find her. Coming up with a plan to hibernate for one hundred years and fool the coven, Lenah sees no danger down the line. And when she wakes up those one hundred years later, the last thing she needs to worry about is her coven coming to track her down because Lenah needs to be able to spend all her energy trying to fit into this new world of humans.

Having a little trouble at first, Lenah eventually begins to fit into human society. She’s made friends, is excelling at school, and even has a love interest in ultra-jock Justin. Of course, like any story, drama ensues. Lenah’s coven discovers her missing body from her crypt and after finding a charred clue (that Rhode failed to burn) as to her whereabouts, start to make their way toward the Wickham Boarding School where Lenah resides. Will Lenah lose her human life again before it’s really started? Can she protect those she loves from the vicious vampires she herself created?

I really liked this book. Sure, it’s not exactly an intellectual read by any means, but if you’re looking for something fun and different involving vampires, I’d definitely recommend you check out this book!

Surface Tension: A Novel in Four Summers
Brent Runyon



rating: 3.5 out of 10 "books"

Surface Tension by Brent Runyon tells the story of teenager, Luke, through the course of four summers. Beginning when Luke is thirteen, readers get to experience the progression of feelings, attitudes, experiences, and views that Luke has as he matures summer after summer. Although the story focuses solely on his family’s summer trips up to the lake, Luke’s first person narrative provides us with enough background information as to what happened during the times in between summers to provide readers with a general idea of how Luke’s life has changed. From his wonder at nature and focus on becoming the best rock skipper at age thirteen, to his anxiety over his summer away from his girlfriend at age sixteen, Surface Tension provides an interesting perspective into how fast a person can change in so little time.

If you’re looking for a quick read, I’d recommend this book. Although the idea of chronicling four summers of a teenage boy’s life sounds like a good idea, my biggest complaint is that I felt like the story wasn’t very well developed. I felt the book could have been a lot better if it had gone more in depth with the character and the story, adding more chapters or something. A word of warning too: some of the material in this story may not be suitable for children, so although amazon.com places the reading age at grades 8 to 11, I’d definitely recommend Surface Tension to the higher teen reading audience.

XVI
Julia Karr



rating: 8.5 out of 10 "books"

“Some girls can’t wait to be sixteen, to be legal. Nina is not one of them. Even though she has no choice in the matter, she knows that so long as her life continues as normal, everything will be okay. Then, with one brutal strike, Nina’s normal is shattered; and she discovers that nothing that she once believed about her life is true. But there’s one boy who can help—and he just may hold the key to her past. But with the line between attraction and danger as thin as a whisper, one thing is for sure… for Nina, turning sixteen promises to be anything but sweet.” – Back cover, XVI

As the back cover of Julia Karr’s XVI states, Nina is not thrilled with the idea of turning sixteen. In this futuristic dystopian novel where the Governing Council and the Media controls everything and citizens are bombarded with noise from advertisements and the like 24/7, sixteen is a very important age for females. Sixteen for a girl indicates adulthood, and the legal age for girls to have intimate relations with men. Schools show videos that instruct girls on how to make men happy and “verts,” (advertisements) tell girls, “how popular they’ll be if they dress and act so boys will want to have sex with them” – page 277. However, as exciting as that sounds for girls like Nina’s friend, Sandy, who’s been studying up on XVI Ways learning about what guys like in a “sex-teen” (as sixteen year olds are referred to), Nina knows turning sixteen is more dangerous than liberating. Because at sixteen, girls are required to get a large XVI tattooed on their wrists, and most guys see that as fair game to do whatever with girls and in many cases, without their consent.

Nina and Sandy are considered lower tiered girls. In this version of the future, money is referred to as “credits,” and those with it are considered a tier 10 or higher. The government provides for everyone even those who have no money as long as they agree to government experiments. Nina and Sandy are at a tier 2, and for girls like them there are not many options. Nina can either hope to earn status as a Creative with her artwork, marry an upper tier guy, or enroll in the mandatory FeLS (Female Liaison) program that all lower tiered girls are required to sign up for. Sandy can’t wait to enroll in and hopefully be chosen for FeLS, and escape her lower status, but Nina has reservations as to what the program is actually about. Whereas Sandy’s mom encourages her daughter’s sixteen ways, Nina’s mom instructs her daughter on the dangers of life at sixteen. With Nina’s dad deceased, Ginnie is the only parent Nina has left.

Nina’s life is going ok until major events change everything. With the seemingly impossible prospect of her father being alive, and the threat of her mother’s boyfriend coming after her at every turn, Nina enrolls the help of her friends to discover the truth behind the Governing Council, the Media, and the FeLS program before it’s too late

I thought this was a really great case study if you will, as to what could happen if society really took media portrayals seriously. Karr writes in an interview at the end of the book about how “there is a huge disconnect between the vestiges of our country’s underlying Puritan mind-set regarding sex and the business of selling teen sexuality through media.” It’s already enough that society itself sends girls one message on how to look and act with regards to sexuality; and movies, television, and magazines send girls a completely different message.

I did feel the back cover of this book was somewhat detrimental to the point of XVI. I know that the author did not write it, but whoever included the part that says, “There’s one boy who can help,” kind of missed the point. I saw this book as trying to show Nina as a strong female character, who yeah is dealing with typical teenage hormones but, who doesn’t need a prince charming to save her. To include that line on the back cover kind of drops the book down from “independent woman” theme of the story back to the typical “weak damsel in distress in need of rescuing from a man,” portrayal of women.

The only other major problem that I had with this book was how Karr wrote about sixteen year old girls as if becoming sixteen was like contracting a disease that made girls only want to have sex with every guy in sight. I know that this was the message the girls in this book were getting from the Media, and that was just bleeding through onto the pages when the female characters were thinking or speaking, but it got annoying after awhile. With Sandy basically saying things like “you won’t be able to think about anything else besides sex once you turn sixteen,” I started getting really mad. Especially since this didn’t seem to be the case at all for any of the guys in the story. The author never really included any dialogue that showed how Nina’s guy friends felt about the girls becoming sex-teens, or how they felt about sex at all. It seemed like the guys were the level-headed characters of the story, especially the character of Sal. Nina and Sal would be making out and Nina would be freaking out with thoughts of “oh I’m no better than a sex-teen with my intimate thoughts and wanting to do more with Sal,” while Sal seemed to be all smooth talking and in control, with no resemblance of the typical horny sex-obsessed teenage boy most of us are familiar with.

I really enjoy stories that look at an extreme version of our future if current global practices continue; whether environmentally, socially, politically, etc. If you like dystopian books, or books that portray a very realistic future, I’d recommend (both guys and girls) checking out XVI. In a world where kids can’t wait to grow up, it’s refreshing to read a cautionary story about wanting too much too soon. Although the book mentions sex a lot, XVI is more about the dangers of teenage relations and attitudes towards it, as opposed to an endorsement. Nothing obscene happens, so parents of teenagers rest easy.

Megan McCafferty ARC Contest!!!

I don't know how many of you bloggers out there are familiar with the Jessica Darling series (Sloppy Firsts...etc.) by Megan McCafferty, but the very talented author is coming out with a new book, "Bumped" in April. Check out Bibliophile Brouhaha's page for an in-depth interview with Megan and a chance to win an advance copy of Bumped!!!

An Object of Beauty: A Novel
Steve Martin



rating: 4.5 out of 10 "books"

Who knew that goofy Steve Martin of SNL fame was such a renaissance man? Not only can he claim comedy and acting to his repertoire, but he can also add musician, playwright, and author of both adult and children’s fiction to that list. When I first heard that Martin was an author I expected, much like other comedians who write books, that his work would be super funny. But I was very surprised to find out that his adult fiction is pretty serious and oftentimes somewhat tragic. For someone to be able to switch gears in such a way that Steve Martin can, it’s no wonder why he’s such a recognized individual.

Martin’s latest book An Object of Beauty, explores the world of the New York art scene as experienced by art reviewer Daniel Franks and his wild card female friend Lacey. The story is told as if written by Daniel himself, mostly chronicling the life of Lacey with little instances where Daniel and Lacey’s lives intersect. Known as first person omniscient, Wikipedia refers to this as “a rare form of first person in which the narrator is a character in the story, but also knows the thoughts and feelings of all the other characters.” Lacey, who can be a very manipulative and selfish character, is young, beautiful, carefree and knows how to use this to her advantage. Starting off at the very bottom of the totem pole, Lacey quickly works her way up in the art world by paying very close attention to the people, and art, she comes in contact with. As with any kind of story that has a tragic aspect to it, this may be what ultimately unravels her.

The author definitely did a good job researching for this story, for as a reader you are constantly bombarded with healthy doses of art history. The one thing I especially liked about this story was the connection between the art itself and Lacey as “beautiful objects.” If you hadn’t already guessed, the title of this book refers to art, but at some point while reading the story, one starts to wonder if art and Lacey are not paralleling one another. There’s even a line early on that really caught my attention. In it, Lacey is really starting to get a handle on the worth of certain art works and what draws people to one particular piece and not another of similar composition. As Lacey starts to factor in various characteristics, Martin writes, “her toe crossed ground from which it is difficult to return: she started converting objects of beauty into objects of value.” That line right there had a lot of weight to it that stayed with me throughout my reading of this novel.

My suggestion is, if you like anything art related or are a huge art history buff pick up this book. It definitely makes reading it a lot easier. This was not one of those books that I could finish in one sitting just because An Object of Beauty is definitely a lot more technical then some of his other works. But even so, Steve Martin’s descriptively flowing words, not to mention his departure from the funny man we know him as, make it worth checking out.

YOU
Charles Benoit



rating: 6.5 out of 10 "books"

“This wasn’t the way it was supposed to go. You’re just a typical fifteen-year-old sophomore, an average guy named Kyle Chase. This can’t be happening to you. But then, how do you explain all the blood? How do you explain how you got here in the first place? There had to be signs, had to have been some clues it was coming. Did you miss them, or ignore them?” – Front Flap of YOU

Kyle Chase is the perfect example of so many of the kids you’ve seen or heard about in school systems who have sort of slipped through the cracks somewhere along the line. Between middle school and high school Kyle made some poor choices that landed him at the school for underachievers, Midlands High School, instead of Odyssey High School. He knows the mistakes he’s made, but can’t begin to fathom how to change them: the grades, the deadbeat friends, most of all his relationship with his parents. YOU spends a large portion of the story lost in Kyle’s anxiety over his wanting to change, and being perfectly apathetic to everything. Then there’s the issue of Kyle’s uncontrollable anger in the midst of all his other roller coaster-esque emotions. As Kyle puts it, “Life would be so much easier if they just left you alone, let you do what you wanted. You wouldn’t’ cause them any grief, you’d take care of yourself make your own food and get yourself where you needed to go.” That statement right there reminded me so much of how I thought towards my own parents, adults, authority figures, etc. at one point during my teenage life, so in that regard, I think Benoit did a really great job of connecting with his inner teenager. And why shouldn’t he of, having been a former high school teacher dealing with teens day in and day out?

Getting back to the story, things for Kyle continue in the above manner until he meets the new kid, smooth-talking confident Zack McDade. For all the weirdness that is Zack, Kyle can’t help but notice that Zack seems to have his life together. And maybe that’s why Kyle begins to hang out with Zack, and things start to pick up in Kyle’s life. But maybe that was Kyle’s biggest mistake. YOU is a fast-paced read that ends where it starts, with a shocking conclusion. It was definitely an emotional read for me, that had me switching between anger at Kyle’s attitude and choices, sympathy in his desire to change all that, pissed off at the character of Zack, and horrified at what happens at the end. If you want a story that will take no time to read, and maybe give you a little inside look at that kid you kind of know at school who has no aspirations and seems to purposely screw things up for himself (but you know is a good kid), check out YOU by Charles Benoit.

100+ Challenge

                       


So j-kaye-book-blog (now Home Girl's Book Blog) hosts a 100+ reading challenge every year and I did it in 2010 reading about 25+ (many were not recorded or written about on my blog sadly... 25 books does not make me look very good!!!), so I've decided to try it again this year as well as taking part in the library challenge. I hope to be able to read (and review) a lot more books this time around. Come on 2011!!!!

Tell Me a Secret
Holly Cupala



rating: 9 out of 10 "books"

“It’s tough, living in the shadow of a dead girl. No one mentions my sister. If they do, it’s mentioning her by omission, relief that I am nothing like her. I am the good sister. Thank God.” – Tell Me a Secret pg. 1

It’s been five years since Miranda Mathison’s bad girl sister, Xanda, died, but the mystery surrounding her death and the secret Xanda took to her grave still haunts Miranda. Now seventeen, the age Xanda was when she died, Miranda, or Rand, is dealing with some issues of her own. Her perfect life: an awesome boyfriend, perfect best friend, and promising future at art school after graduation, are all shaken up when two little pink lines on a pregnancy test threaten to destroy everything Rand has worked so hard for. To top it all off, the shaky relationship she’s had with her mother all her life, especially after the death of her “failure” of a sister, feels like it’s been permanently derailed after the news of her pregnancy leaks.

But the truth is, Rand has always wanted to be like Xanda. Maybe that’s why she surrounds herself with bad girl Delaney, and had isolated herself from her once best friend, Essence. So while all these bad things keep happening to her, Rand can’t help but obsess over the vagueness of Xanda’s death, and the secret truth that her parents might be keeping from her surrounding the way her sister died. The only problem is that it seems everyone has turned against Rand, her best friend and boyfriend included. With no one to talk to, not even her parents, Rand is completely on her own in terms of her pregnancy.

Talk about capturing the essence of high school! True, I’ve been out of high school for quite awhile now, but it felt like I was sucked right back into the drama of it all whilst reading this book. I for one, know how hard high school can be; how mean, manipulative, clique-y, and backstabbing (even your good friends!) can be. Cupala was able to capture all of the emotional angst and hardships that many teens face while pursuing secondary education, even more so, when you’re a soon-to-be teenage mother. I would never wish what happened to Rand in this story on anyone. And if you thought your mother was bad, wait until you get a load of Rand’s mom. In a somewhat related note, I also thought Holly Cupala did a really awesome job of representing (no offense my teenage friends!), the kind of ignorance young people have at that age, whereas, instead of going and finding out the facts for sure yourself, making a judgment call and abandoning your friend(s), boyfriend, or girlfriend based on what someone else told you. There was so many times when I wanted to yell at certain characters in the book because things were so obvious to me as an adult reader, and so easy to fix, but understandably confusing to a teen.

The only downside, that I was able to think of when it came to this story, was Xanda’s “secret.” Either the author was really unclear about what it actually was, or I just assumed one part of the story was the secret, but I was a little let down by Rand’s discovery as it related to Xanda. However, when all is said and done, I thought this was a really great book. It wasn’t just one of those “oh hey, another teenage pregnancy” kind of stories. I’ve read a lot of YA books in my time, and this was one of the few that really did YA right: no crazy/complicated love triangles, too mature for their age characters, or Gossip Girl-esque storylines. Holly Cupala definitely knows her stuff and I’m positive that if I had read this book in high school, I would have related to it even more than I just did a handful of years later. Go out and read this book!

Love Drugged
James Klise



rating: 6.5 out of 10 "books"

What could be better than reading a book written by one of your own: I’m referring to a fellow librarian of course. In his first YA novel, Klise presents the possibility of a cure for homosexuality in the form of a little blue pill. And why shouldn’t it be a pharmaceutical company that invents the cure for such a “perversion of the human way of life,” (this is me quoting the opinion of countless people across the globe). For me however, I saw this story as one that presented a possible threat to the happiness of so many people who just so happen to be gay.

Love Drugged, is the story of Jamie Bates, a fifteen year old who just wants to be like any normal girl-obsessed teenage boy. The only problem is that he’s not: Jamie is gay. So when the should-be girl of his dreams, Celia, introduces Jamie to her father, the creator of a in-the-works gay cure called Rehomoline, Jamie, desperately seeking to live the life he feels he was meant to, has no choice but to steal some of the pills. However, as the pills take away his attraction to men; horrible side effects fill its place. Even worse, Jamie sees no advancement in his attraction to women, Celia included. The story follows Jamie as he makes bad choices, one after the other, and the people he will eventually hurt in his quest to be straight.

With the recent national “Things Will Get Better” campaign, I thought this book was fitting, especially since, within my own library system, there have been suicides due to unacceptance and ridicule because of sexual preference. Initially upon reading, I saw Rehomoline as a good thing; why shouldn’t people have a choice as to whether they want to be gay or not. But eventually, and as suggested further on in the book, why should that even be an issue? Why should a gay individual have to make that choice? It’s like an African American having the choice to become white, as if there were something wrong with being black. In an even larger scope, and something that I only realized after reading it further in this book, what if this drug did become available, and instead of people having the choice of whether or not they wanted to be “straight,” the drug was, for lack of a better word, weaponized, and forced upon homosexual individuals in order to mold them into some crazy idea of what a man or woman should be, or, more specifically, who they should love. In my opinion, that’s one less thing that needs to be made available to the likes of the ultra-religious homophobes. The worst part of this story is that the drug does nothing to “cure” homosexuality because although it may take away a man or woman’s attraction to the same sex, it does nothing to make a man or woman attracted to the opposite sex: it simply “suppresses the homosexual response in the brain,” thus destroying the one thing that separates man from all other creatures and turning people into a sort of zombie, devoid of any kind of human emotions relating to love.

Although this book and I started off pretty slow, I really came to like it, especially what it stands for and some of the issues and thought-provoking questions it brought up for me.

Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro



rating: 6 out of 10 "books"

In the spirit of novels such as “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “The Unit,” comes a similar story that depicts the possibility of a not-too-distant-future, that while seeming hardly believable now, could actually come to conception when you really get right down to the root of the idea. An alumna of Hailsham, a mysterious school located in the English countryside, Kathy H. and her fellow classmates are not your ordinary human beings. Much of Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go” is spent reminding readers that Hailsham students are “special,” a characteristic that up until the last quarter of the story, we can only guess at as to why. The students’ caretakers, or guardians as they are called, instruct Hailsham students on the importance of taking care of themselves, “keeping yourselves very healthy inside, that’s much more important for each of you then it is for me,” as one guardian puts it. As Kathy H. reminisces, “even at that age – we were 9 or 10 – we knew just enough to make us wary of that whole territory. We certainly knew – though not in any deep sense – that we were different from our guardians, and also from the normal people outside; we perhaps even knew that a long way down the line there were donations waiting for us. But we didn’t really know what that meant.”

The little pieces Kazuo Ishiguro lets onto early on in “Never Let Me Go” deal with the Hailsham students and donations. We are told that “normal” people are overcome with revulsion and dread at the mention of Hailsham students, especially Madame, the strange woman who comes to the school from time to time to pick up art for her “gallery,” that students spend much of their time creating. If for nothing else, this story had me reading to find out the great mystery behind the Hailsham students and their donations and kept my attention with the beautiful writing. Truly a coming-of-age tragic story, the plot follows Kathy H. and her closest classmates, Tommy and Ruth, as they grow inside the walls of Hailsham and beyond, dealing not only with the hardships of day to day life and growing up, but also those that face them in their uncertain future. If you’ve recently seen the theatrical movie release starring Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley, or you’re looking for a pretty decent read, I’d recommend checking out Never Let Me Go.

Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful Darkness

Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl



rating: 8.5 out of 10 "books"

“This town owned us, that was the good and the bad of it. It knew every inch of us, every sin, every secret, every scab. Which was why most people never bothered to leave, and why the ones who did never came back. But while other folks were busy cutting back their rosebushes, Light and Dark Casters with unique and powerful gifts were locked in an eternal struggle—a supernatural civil war without any hope of a white flag waving. Lena’s Gatlin was home to Demons and danger and a curse that had marked her family for more than a hundred years. A few months ago, I believed nothing would ever change in this town. Now I knew better, and I only wished it was true” -- Beautiful Darkness pg.2 &3

For those of you sick of the Vampire craze but looking for something to fill the void as the Harry Potter franchise draws towards a dramatic close, I’d recommend the Beautiful Creatures series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Although the storyline is much different than that of “the boy who lived”, many of the aspects of Beautiful Creatures and its sequel, Beautiful Darkness, are similar.

Living in a small South Carolina town where everyone knows each other’s business and no one really ever leaves after High School, Ethan Wate was counting down the days until he could finally get out of the town of Gatlin. But then Ethan began having very real nightmares involving a girl, dreams he’d wake up from physically hurt and covered in mud. When Lena, the girl from these dreams, turns out to be real, Ethan finds his life changed in ways he could never imagine. Everything he thought he knew about Gatlin has changed; because as it turns out, Lena is a Caster, a sort of witch capable of some pretty heavy stuff and everyone he thought he knew; his own recently deceased mother, her best friend and town librarian, Marian, even his caretaker, Amma, are involved. Sort of like Harry Potter is to magic, except in different terminology, Lena can perform some serious magic; like controlling the weather and making things happen that no one else could even imagine.

Lena lives in her uncle’s mansion on the outskirts of town. The Ravenwood Mansion is the town ghost story, it being the only mansion to withstand the burning of the town during the Civil War. Like Muggles in J.K. Rowling’s world, the people of Gatlin, perhaps sensing the power surrounding it, stay away from the mansion and the supposed hermit who resides in its walls. Lena’s uncle, Macon (said hermit), is even comparable to Harry’s godfather, Sirius Black. However, in the Caster world, there are much different creatures abound with much different powers. But whether it’s sirens, incubuses, seers, thaumaturgies, or palimpsests, each Caster must choose whether to be Light or Dark, much like the wizards and witches of Hogwarts.

The trouble in the first book comes into play when on her sixteenth moon, Lena will be claimed as a Dark or Light Caster. Cursed by the “Book of Moons,” the Ravenwood family has no choice as to whether they become Dark or Light like other Casters. Lena’s own cousin Ridley, practically her sister, turned Dark and was banished from the family. Lena’s situation is a little different however, because Lena is a special type of Caster and her claiming could mean the end of either the Dark Casters, or the Light, the outcome of which means losing some of the ones she loves either way. All the action of the story plays up to the moment of the sixteenth moon, with the balance of The Order of Things at stake, but in the meantime, Lena and Ethan must figure out the connection behind the dreams that they both share before it’s too late.

The first book ends on a sort of cliffhanger, but at the same time I was surprised when I discovered the sequel, Beautiful Darkness. I don’t want to give too much away as far as either book goes, for those who have not read Beautiful Creatures, but for those who were fans of the first story, you will not be disappointed by Beautiful Darkness. The stories are a little long, so they’re not for those looking for a super quick read, however, I found the books took me no time at all to finish just because they were so hard to put down!

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary
David Sedaris



rating: 5.5 out of 10 "books"

From the author of “Me Talk Pretty One Day” and “Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim,” comes a collection of short stories chronicling the mishaps and ridiculous day-to-day happenings of animals. These stories, or more appropriately termed fables, are presented Aesop style with a normal enough beginning resulting in some sort of moral or insight type ending. The interesting part of these animal tales, is the fact that each animal personifies one person or another with whom we’ve had the unfortunate pleasure of interacting with at some point in our lives: the self-obsessed whiner who must be the center of attention at all times; the naïve acquaintance who will believe anything they are told, and oftentimes taken advantage of for it; or the group of guys who will poke fun (to the point of insinuating violence) at one section of the population and not even realize it, but make mention towards another and you’ve gone too far. Sedaris does an excellent job of pointing out many of the major and minor flaws that plague society.

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk is a nice branching out in a new direction that departs from a lot of the autobiographical novels the author has written. The only downside to this story that I have found, is the fact that only a few of the stories on the audiobook are narrated by David Sedaris himself; Dylan Baker, Elaine Stritch, and Sian Phillips lend their vocals towards the other stories. Audiobook aside, each little story is a quick read, and the entire book could be read in one sitting if motivated.

Candor by Pam Bachorz



rating: 7.5 out of 10 "books"

Oscar Banks is the town of Candor's number one model citizen. He's got the perfect grades, the perfect girlfriend, and the perfect life. Every kid in school wants to be like him, and every girl in town is dying to be his girlfriend. But Oscar Banks has a secret: he's not who anyone thinks he is, including his own father. Living in a town his father created to turn the most delinquent of teens into model kids and help even the most far from fixing marriages, Oscar has figured out the underlying truth behind the perfection of Candor. Using what he calls "Messages" (ie. subliminal messages embedded deep in music), Oscar knows that his father is controlling and shaping the town's minds' into whatever each citizen pays big bucks for: resulting in a new and improved family. It's no wonder that the waiting list to get an extremely expensive yet basic plot of land is so long, when as a parent, you're guaranteed to have your brat of a child whipped into shape in a matter of a couple weeks. Oscar uses all this information to his advantage, promising to help newly arrived teens out of Candor before they change, in exchange for a large fee. He prepares everything for them, including cd's of his own Messages the escapees will need for the rest of their lives outside of Candor; because once you've been exposed to the Messages, you can't ever go without them or the consequences in most cases are death by personal injury. Making his own counter Messages is the only way Oscar's been able to make it as long as he has without turning into a Candor clone himself. As Oscar himself says “Other people don’t notice when a Message fills their head. But I’ve been here longer than anyone. And I’ve found ways to train myself. I know when my brain is feeding me Messages. I know how to fight them.”

Everything is going fine for Oscar until he meets the new addition to Candor: Nia. So unlike any of the girls he's initially met, and definitely different than any of the Candor clones, Oscar is torn between saving Nia from Candor, or keeping her for himself with his own concoction of Messages. His plan of keeping Nia in the dark as to the truth of Candor, while slowly feeding her Messages to prolong her genuine self, proves to be beneficial in the beginning. The only problem is, when Oscar's own meddling with the Messages sets off a chain reaction, Nia, and others in Candor, are no longer safe.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s a little bit older, having come out in 2009 but it fits nicely into one of my favorite genres known as dystopian fiction; which according to Wikipedia, means, “Fiction set in a futuristic society that has degraded into a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian.” If you’ve read the hugely popular Hunger Games series, another example of a dystopian society, it gives you an idea of the genre. I really liked that this story kind of ended with a twist, but not. I was surprised and upset by the end, but at the same time, could see the possible outcome from very early on in the book. I like stories that don’t necessarily end in a “happily ever after” sort of way, not to say there were not some elements of that present at the end. My advice: if you like “The Giver” by Lois Lowry or “Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood, try giving this story a read. And after reading Candor, if you haven’t read the other two novels I’ve mentioned, definitely give them a shot too.

Ape House
Sara Gruen




rating: 7 out of 10 "books"

If there’s ever been an author who will go above and beyond to research for a novel, Sara Gruen ranks high on that list. The newest book from the author of Water for Elephants explores the link between human-primate communication abilities, but on a deeper level, delves into the emotional link between the two and the similarities that exist no matter man or ape.

Isabel Duncan works for a college research facility studying the language and communication behaviors of bonobo apes. The closest things to family, her bonobos are her life. A reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, John Thigpen is assigned to report on the bonobo language facility. While Isabel and John are pretty much strangers to one another, leading two very different lives, when something major happens within the language lab, Isabel and John find themselves working side-by-side together.

Total romance novel-esque summary aside, Ape House is a very good read. Despite some bad reviews of the Water for Elephants follow-up, I think Gruen accomplishes a lot with this novel. I had no idea what this story was about besides apes, and even that gained tidbit from the title is not a fair presentation of the plot that follows. I really enjoyed the sort of split POV (point of view) that alternated between John and Isabel. The drama that occurs in each person’s life is a minor plotline that accentuates the overall theme of the story. John is constantly battling to keep his marriage afloat while economic, career, and mother-in-law troubles threaten to destroy his and his wife’s relationship. On top of that, his wife’s constant depression and yearning for a child leaves John anxious all the time. Isabel on the other hand, is dealing with her own personal demons; namely trust issues and an inability to fully open up to anybody, her fiancée included. Little is given to us as readers as far as Isabel’s family background, but it is enough information to discern that it has hugely affected Isabel’s current relationships.

Overall I’d say, if you liked Water for Elephants, try giving this novel a read. A lot of what happens in the story in relation to the bonobos are things that happened to Gruen herself when she was researching for the story at the Great Ape Trust in Iowa. A word of warning however for adults: the subject matter does get a little mature in some places, so have caution before adding this to your school collection or teen’s reading list.

October Sky (Aka Rocket Boys: A Memoir)
Homer Hickam



rating: 9 out of 10 "books"

I know of quite a few people who hate when books are turned into movies. Common complaints include the degredation of the story from book to screen (you can't squeeze a whole book into a 90 minute movie!), departure of characters (appearance, or total deletion of), and yada, yada, yada, but honestly, I like book to movie adaptations because I think it's a great way to discover new books (or more specifically authors), that you may not have known existed before. What better way for kids to get into reading than for them to find out their favorite movie was adapted from a book? Especially when that movie is based on a real story?

I had never even heard of Homer Hickam until I saw the movie. "October Sky" is the story of a boy growing up in a small coal town and dreaming bigger than the life set out before him. During the on-set of the Space Race, Homer becomes facinated with the idea of outer space and the (at the time) seemingly science fiction-like possibility of putting a man in space. Despite his poor grades and lack of socio-economic opportunities growing up in West Virginia, Homer studies hard and learns beyond his school classes to persue his dream. He and his friends, the Rocket Boys, face challenges left and right; from their peers bullying them, to the company town threatening to shut down their rocket activities, to the school principal himself calling their rockets "bombs." Probably one of the biggest issues in this story, however, is the relationship Homer has with his father. It's heartbreaking at times to read how hard Mr. Hickam is on his son, and the disappointment Homer brings his dad when he dreams outside of Coalwood instead of following in his footsteps and becoming a coal miner.

I really enjoyed this book. Again having seen the movie before reading the book and then going back and seeing how things may have been added or deleted from book to movie might have put me off a little, but nothing too serious. Yes, some characters were different (some altogether excluded!) and some versions of how things "went down" may have been altered a bit, but all the same, it was an enjoyable read. I myself can understand the need to get out of a life you don't want, or a place that you don't want to be stuck in. That is why I give this story a rating of 9 "books."

Ballads of Suburbia
Stephanie Kuehnert



rating: 7 out of 10 "books"

"It's like a big anomaly, but everybody in suburbia has a fucked up secret, an event or series of events that made you who you are. That's what you're confessing to here." Hence, ballad. "A true ballad tells a story about real life." "A lot of ballads are about the mistakes we inevitably make while trying to figure out how to live our lives." -- Ballads of Suburbia


Ballads of Suburbia is one of those stories that starts with the epilogue and then spends most of the book in a flashback. After being left for dead while OD'ing in the park near her house the summer after her junior year of High School, our narrator, Kara, is just now returning to Chicago after a four year abscence. Kara, however, was not always a royal screwup just a typical angst-ridden teen searching like any of us, for her place in the world. The back story of Ballads of Suburbia begins with not only the start of Kara's High School days and the loss of her best friend Stacey, (who has moved to another part of town), but the constant downpour of family issues that threaten to destroy the last familiar part of her life. It isn't until Kara meets the goths and punk rockers that hang around Scoville Park that she begins to feel as if she finally has a close group of friends. And while, for the first time in years, Kara and her younger brother, Liam, are hanging out and making the same friends, partying every weekend with the Scoville crowd, and experimenting with the abundance of drugs, everything around them quickly begins to spiral out of control.

The title of this story, Ballads of Suburbia, is part of the basis behind the layout of the story. As Kara descirbes, the dictionary definition of a ballad is "a song that tells a story in short stanzas and simple words, with repetition, refrain, etc," or as Kara puts it, "the punk rocker or the country crooner telling the story of his life in three minutes, reminding us of the numerous ways to screw up." Large chunks of the story are even divided into the parts of a ballad starting with the Verse, followed by chorus, and so on, including the must-have element of a ballad: the guitar solo. But even more central to the title of this story is the notebook that Kara finds out about one day that contains each of the authors included's messed up childhood stories ("firsthand accounts of the things that changed you and the mistakes you made.") and immediately labels "ballads." It's these ballads that really centralize the plot of the story and unites the various characters in the book. One cannot read the notebook until they have written their own ballad, a confession of one's own mess ups and secrets.

On the one hand, I feel as if I've lived a completely sheltered life, having lived in Suburbia myself throughout my childhood and never having anything like this happen to me. Sure, I'd hear of people at my High School having parties, doing drugs, and getting pregnant, but most of the time my friends and I saw this all as very scandalous and stayed away from it. But on the other hand, I can see how easy it is to fall into those sorts of traps, especially in High School where fitting in is probably one of the biggest deals ever. I can honestly see how Suburbia would be the perfect place for all these bad, lurking elements to collide and I have no doubts that some of the newspaper articles that the kids in this story collected about bad things happening in the Suburbs could be, or are, true. I suppose I could say that I have had some suburban drama happen in my life, and I do wonder if some of the problems I've faced in my post-High School life have been as a result of growing up in "sheltered" Suburbia.

I really liked the idea of the notebook and the fact that the characters felt safe airing their dirty laundry to their fellow peers. What was essentially personal journal entries for these kids became group knowledge. It reminds me of that new MTV show "If You Really Knew Me." I think it's really made these teens feel a whole lot closer during a time when parents, as hard as they might try, really don't understand what their teenagers are going through. I think a lot of parents argue that they know perfectly well what's going on in their child's life because "we were once teenagers too," but "the times, they are a changing." I don't know when the next generation of teens are going to have it easier than the previous, but for now it seems like it always gets tougher and tougher to be that magical age.

I liked this story. It might not be a literary masterpiece, but I think it speaks out to people, not just teenagers, of the trials and tribulations, up and downs that people go through, possibly have to go through, before they can become the people they are meant to be.

The Ask
Sam Lipsyte



rating: 3 out of 10 "books"

I recently read this story as part of a book club a few of my friends and I started and from the book summary the story sounded interesting enough. The Ask by Sam Lipsyte is the story of Milo, an awkward loserish type, who works for a mediocre liberal arts college after his own dreams of being an artist fail. He spends his time begging wealthy alumni for money to fund the university's ever expanding art department projects. The Ask as the title refers to, is essentially whatever the college is looking to acquire from a particular alumni as opposed to what the alumni decides to Give. The rising crisis occurs when Milo, who has been fired from the university, is rehired on the condition that he help acquire a big Ask from an old collge roommate who specificially requests Milo's help. Bizzareness ensues as Milo tries to balance work, his crumbling marriage, and his ever curious three year old son as well as everything and anything in between.

I've often wondered what it must be like to work for an alumni organization calling one alumni after another in an attempt to sqeeze whatever bits of charitable money out of them as possible. To me, it seems like a slight variation to telemarketing, and although the story aims at dark humor, sarcasm, and bitter hilarity, the ridiculousness of everyday circumstances Milo finds himself in are more lewd than entertaining. I had a hard time trying to decide if some of the things Lipsyte writes in this novel are for surface level shock value, or if on some underlying level of his psyche Lipsyte is a misogynist.

Overall, there's a moment in this book that pretty much sums up The Ask as a whole. Milo, asks, "if I were the protagonist of a book or movie, it would be hard to like me, to identify with me right?" To which his co-worker, Vargina, (yes you read that name right) replies, "I would never read a book like that, Milo. I can't think of anyone who would. There's no reason for it." Almost as if Lipstye is using this as a disclaimer for any negative critiques, "The Ask" is nothing more than the boring story of a loser told in a narrative whether meaning to or not, reads like a cross between Salinger and Vonnegut. But not in a good way. Anti-hero or not, I did not enjoy this story.

Hey Bloggers!

A few people have been asking where I've disappeared off too, and I just wanted to let the cat out of the bag so to speak,as to what's been going on over in my end.

I recently took up a part-time job after spending months looking for a library job in my area. It's nothing too glamourous and doesn't even pay that much, but it's helping pay the bills. Unfortunately the hours take up a lot of my time previously spent working on my reviews. I know I've said it before, but I apologize in advance for future book reviews. I will try my best to get some posted up here when I get a chance (I've read quite a few books that still need to be reviewed).

Thank you all for your patience!

Happy Reading!
Sarah