October 25 - 31

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld
I FINALLY FINISHED THIS! And you know, I'm okay with the ending. I didn't think it was spectacular or anything, to either of the endings, but it was certainly okay. What I really liked best about this book was the interesting duality of getting two books in one. If you got sucked in to the one that "Darcy" wrote for her NaNoWriMo (which is about to start for real!!) you would be disappointed by the next chapter when she's talking with Imogen about writing the ending and what things happen. It's weird to read a book where one character is spoiling the plot of another book for you all the way through. It's not all explicit, but when you hear things like "I killed one of my favorite characters" you're gut wrenches and you're dreading who it will be all the way through the next chapter. 

I would be REALLY interested in seeing how people interpreted this book or even just felt about it if they read it differently than just straight through from page 1 to 499. For example, what if they read the Lizzie story first? They would lose the bit of suspense from when Darcy is worried about writing the ending because they'd know what she got. The spoilers would not longer be spoilers. If they read the Darcy story first, then they'd know more or less exactly what to expect when reading the Lizzie story. It's neat to have so many different ways to read this book (these two, or even three?! books). 

Also, out of curiosity... how many words is the Lizzie story? If it's supposed to be for NaNoWriMo, then it should be probably 50-60,000 words. I'm curious as to what the count would actually be. 

Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner
This book is solidly okay. It's kind of intriguing, but it's nothing that I haven't heard before. Similar to a young adult version of George Orwell's 1984. Many people have made that comparison, but that's because it's pretty accurate. I'm at least happy with the ending because it's open and does not give the reader exactly what might be wanted. I really appreciate that. The language was awesome, and there were lots of lines that I wrote little hearts next too, but I'm still just sort of feeling meh about this one. I don't know that it'll be one I remember forever.

Also, the pictures were gross and seemed unnecessary. Like really? The maggots had to explode out of the dead rat's stomach? No, I didn't need that. It was really distracting from the book itself because I'd keep thinking "Ugh, DON'T LOOK AT IT..." and having to position my hand so that it wasn't touching that part of the page when I was holding the book. YUCK.

Macbeth by William Shakespeare
I've read this before several times, but as I am reading it again I wanted to include it in here. I especially wanted to do so because of how much more I'm picking up in this play than any other time I've read it. In the very first scene, for example, one of the captains raves about how Macbeth scorned Fate as he plowed through a field of enemies and managed to win the day and survive as well. Yet the entire book is a question of Fate and whether Macbeth is subject to Fate or if he made his own Fate. So interesting! Also, fear is a huge thing. The word fear is in here in so many different situations. I love it! Right after they carry out their plot, the randomly exclaim "Hark!" and I only now realize that's them being startled at some small noise, like an owl's hooting or the wind, because of their guilty consciences! Awesome.

Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow
I don't know why I had it in my mind that this is a young adult book, because after reading the first 100 or so pages, I definitely don't think it is anymore. I'm having some trouble with this one, and I'm honestly thinking of just stopping for now. Maybe I'll read it another time, but I don't think right now is that time. It's strange because the writing itself is interesting and beautiful a lot of the time, but the plot the words talk about, the characters... man, I just don't care. And that's not a great feeling to have about a book. I have others waiting right now, and I don't think I'm going to bother with this at the moment. I want my reading to be fun!

Bomb! The race to build--and steal-- the world's most dangerous weapon by Steve Sheinkin
WOW, this book is really blowing me away. Haha! Get it? Anyway. It's amazing that Steven Sheinkin is able to write about the very sciency technical side of splitting atoms and fission and all these very high-level sciency things and not only make it understandable to the average person, but interesting! I found myself sucked right in. I love the different people whose perspectives he writes from because they come from all walks of life. Hearing from the side of the Soviet Union and actual KGB spies in America is super cool. Hearing about how Albert Einstein himself was like "Oh no, this is bad!" and wrote letters to the president is super cool. I'm not very far in yet (maybe about 60 pages) but it's awesome! I love the way it looks too. The chapter headings and font and even just the weight and feel of the book are all excellent. I can see why this won a nonfiction award! I can also totally imagine my kids getting into this book.