Champion by Marie Lu
The series was interesting enough to get me through to the end, but I was kind of disappointed by the turns it took into slightly cliched territory. The big final twist was definitely a cliche... but not from the expected set of Y.A cliches. Seems like Lu looked for a surprise ending from a different genre. Interesting though, definitely unexpected. I feel like this book was less strong than the others though, like maybe the author was starting to get tired of the world and just wanted to wrap everything up.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
WOW, did not expect so much from this book! The big twist was a complete surprise to me, which gave the rest of my experience reading a really eerie quality since the narrator did exactly what was intended.
I don't even know how to write about it if someone hasn't read it....
The longer it's been since I've read this book the more I can appreciate it. It was surprisingly well written (surprising only because it was recently a successful movie... I'm a bit biased), and it affected me quite strongly at points, to the level where I would sometimes need to stop reading for a little while, even though I was so invested in finding out what was going to happen. This modern day murder mystery pulled me in like murder mysteries rarely do.
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Saturday, March 21, 2015
March 15 - 21
Prodigy by Marie Lu
Wow! Okay, this one got impressively political in a way that added a lot to the world, AND didn't bore me to tears. That's quite an achievement. If Lu had been an author in Antarctica in her own novel, she would have gained MAJOR points and probably and actual achievement from managing that. The characters' travel to outside of their own boundaries was incredibly interesting. The political landscape on a global scale was creatively imagined in ways most people ignore. It can be hard to imagine Africa as a technological mecca, and most people don't even think twice about Antarctica. That whole aspect really caught my attention.
(Note... I'm actually thinking this might have been in the next book in the series... but it was still awesome.)
Wow! Okay, this one got impressively political in a way that added a lot to the world, AND didn't bore me to tears. That's quite an achievement. If Lu had been an author in Antarctica in her own novel, she would have gained MAJOR points and probably and actual achievement from managing that. The characters' travel to outside of their own boundaries was incredibly interesting. The political landscape on a global scale was creatively imagined in ways most people ignore. It can be hard to imagine Africa as a technological mecca, and most people don't even think twice about Antarctica. That whole aspect really caught my attention.
(Note... I'm actually thinking this might have been in the next book in the series... but it was still awesome.)
Monday, March 16, 2015
March 8 - 14
Legend by Marie Lu
Yep! Finished this one. It was a pretty solidly entertaining read, even if I was able to guess most of the "big plot twists" way ahead of them ever being revealed. Still worth the read. I don't really feel like I have much to say about this one---it's a pretty standard YA dystopian novel.
Rich privileged girl, poor slum boy. One pitted against the other with an unexpected similarity. Both have lost their families and friends, and both have their beliefs shaken about things they thought they knew to be true.
Prodigy by Marie Lu
Started in on the second one, and already I have my suspicions. I'm not too far in yet, but I think I have some ideas about where this is all heading... we'll see....
Yep! Finished this one. It was a pretty solidly entertaining read, even if I was able to guess most of the "big plot twists" way ahead of them ever being revealed. Still worth the read. I don't really feel like I have much to say about this one---it's a pretty standard YA dystopian novel.
Rich privileged girl, poor slum boy. One pitted against the other with an unexpected similarity. Both have lost their families and friends, and both have their beliefs shaken about things they thought they knew to be true.
Prodigy by Marie Lu
Started in on the second one, and already I have my suspicions. I'm not too far in yet, but I think I have some ideas about where this is all heading... we'll see....
Saturday, March 7, 2015
March 1 - 7
Hello March! It's starting to feel like spring, even with the several feet of snow and temperatures in the teens.
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
My goodness this kid swears a lot! It's very distracting and bothersome. If I wanted to listen to a fourteen-year-old, I'd go help out at the high school. I can say that Salinger did at least capture the voice well, but JEEZ, on a personal level it was hard to deal with and I nearly put it down every time I started again. I think it was a large part of why that relatively short book took me so long to get through.
Kind of dull. Someone in class this week used it as an example of "a book with no plot." I used Country of the Pointed Firs as my example, if you recall that one (it's in here somewhere...). I guess I agree with that argument. I think the most interesting thing about the book was the way it was a tragi-comedy. Holden puts on a face, and that is supposed to be funny (and at times it certainly is), but he is one sad boy. The world has got him down and he just hates everything except his little sister and his dead brother. The only thing he ever seems to not hate is children, which is a sign of how he views them as uncorrupted at their young ages, unlike everyone and everything else in the world (in his mind). That could be an interesting consideration of the novel, but as a simple story, it was pretty lacking. I think any depth from this book comes in discussion.
What Was She Thinking? [Notes on a Scandal] by Zoe Heller
A floaty new teacher named Sheba stumbles into a young male student's arms. Their ages and positions as teacher and pupil are obvious problems, forcing them to keep everything under wraps. The fact that Sheba has a husband and children certainly don't make things any easier. We already know that she has been exposed, and is evidently being taken care of by a friend in her time of need. How did this all happen? That's what this kind friend of Sheba is here to tell us about.
I was surprised by how much I liked this book! Maybe I'm just a sucker for teacher drama since it plays to my interests, but the characters were unexpected and their interactions even more so. The narrator felt like she was losing it a bit at the end there, and it had a distinctly creepy feeling to it that I couldn't quite place that I can't wait to discuss with everyone. The usual role reversal was refreshing, and some of the points made in the story via other characters' comments and judgments made me chuckle. It feels like a novel packed with moments that could be used for anyone's political agenda. Feminism and double standards? Definitely. To Catch a Predator-esque commentary about our children's safety? You betcha. Help services about abusive relationships? In a number of surprising ways, without a doubt.
Legend by Marie Lu
This is the same lady who recently published The Young Elites which I read a few weeks back. I didn't realize that when I bought it on sale on Google Play the other night, but I guess I've found a new author I like. This is a distinctly young adult dystopian novel, as I've been diving into quite voraciously lately (when I have time, that is). I'm very barely into this one, only a few chapters (maybe thirty pages) but I'm already quite drawn in! Stay tuned!
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
My goodness this kid swears a lot! It's very distracting and bothersome. If I wanted to listen to a fourteen-year-old, I'd go help out at the high school. I can say that Salinger did at least capture the voice well, but JEEZ, on a personal level it was hard to deal with and I nearly put it down every time I started again. I think it was a large part of why that relatively short book took me so long to get through.
Kind of dull. Someone in class this week used it as an example of "a book with no plot." I used Country of the Pointed Firs as my example, if you recall that one (it's in here somewhere...). I guess I agree with that argument. I think the most interesting thing about the book was the way it was a tragi-comedy. Holden puts on a face, and that is supposed to be funny (and at times it certainly is), but he is one sad boy. The world has got him down and he just hates everything except his little sister and his dead brother. The only thing he ever seems to not hate is children, which is a sign of how he views them as uncorrupted at their young ages, unlike everyone and everything else in the world (in his mind). That could be an interesting consideration of the novel, but as a simple story, it was pretty lacking. I think any depth from this book comes in discussion.
What Was She Thinking? [Notes on a Scandal] by Zoe Heller
A floaty new teacher named Sheba stumbles into a young male student's arms. Their ages and positions as teacher and pupil are obvious problems, forcing them to keep everything under wraps. The fact that Sheba has a husband and children certainly don't make things any easier. We already know that she has been exposed, and is evidently being taken care of by a friend in her time of need. How did this all happen? That's what this kind friend of Sheba is here to tell us about.
I was surprised by how much I liked this book! Maybe I'm just a sucker for teacher drama since it plays to my interests, but the characters were unexpected and their interactions even more so. The narrator felt like she was losing it a bit at the end there, and it had a distinctly creepy feeling to it that I couldn't quite place that I can't wait to discuss with everyone. The usual role reversal was refreshing, and some of the points made in the story via other characters' comments and judgments made me chuckle. It feels like a novel packed with moments that could be used for anyone's political agenda. Feminism and double standards? Definitely. To Catch a Predator-esque commentary about our children's safety? You betcha. Help services about abusive relationships? In a number of surprising ways, without a doubt.
Legend by Marie Lu
This is the same lady who recently published The Young Elites which I read a few weeks back. I didn't realize that when I bought it on sale on Google Play the other night, but I guess I've found a new author I like. This is a distinctly young adult dystopian novel, as I've been diving into quite voraciously lately (when I have time, that is). I'm very barely into this one, only a few chapters (maybe thirty pages) but I'm already quite drawn in! Stay tuned!
Saturday, February 28, 2015
February 22 - 28
What a conveniently square month February is: exactly four weeks with a nice start on Sunday.
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
I admit, I didn't do a lot of reading this week. Only about 50 pages of this one book. I'm not sure why. Perhaps the marathon of reading for classes has worn me out a bit at this point in the year. This book is also not terribly interesting... but I'll get through it.
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
I admit, I didn't do a lot of reading this week. Only about 50 pages of this one book. I'm not sure why. Perhaps the marathon of reading for classes has worn me out a bit at this point in the year. This book is also not terribly interesting... but I'll get through it.
Monday, February 23, 2015
February 15 - 21
Break this week! And a book I've had on hold for a while had the extreme good fortune to become available this week, while I actually had time to read it!
The Young Elites by Marie Lu
This is the book I had been waiting for. It was a nice splash of YA in the midst of my 400-level English kind of readings. I powered through it in a night, and was surprised by it. It has the pretty standard lines of YA through it, but there were some aspects that had me go, "Oh! That's new!" The protagonist was abused horribly as a young girl, which isn't terribly surprising. However, she's also pretty much established as a horrifying murderer, and her magic is powered by hate and fear, both her own and others'. THAT'S pretty... grisly, I suppose, for a nice little young-adult novel. But definitely the most surprising part---
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
Well, this one was for school. I thought I would really hate it, and I kind of did for a while. As I pushed through, I developed a better understanding of it though. This book is an interesting hybrid told in an unusual way. The narrator is the friend of a poet who was murdered. The friend takes it upon himself to provide explanatory notes to his friend's poem so that he can publish it posthumously. However, the narrator just turns everything into a story about his homeland and his king there, like some kind of absurdly patriotic guy who's so upset that his friend didn't write the poem about the stories the narrator told him about his homeland that he's using the poem and established author's fame to hijack it and tell his own story.
That's all true. However, it makes a little more sense when you learn through the process of the egotistical narrator's notes that
The Gate Thief by Orson Scott Card
I didn't actually get much farther in this, but I did listen to some of it so I wanted to include it in here. Clearly, as you can tell from the VOLUMES I had to say about the other two books this week, I had a lot of other things on my mind. :)
The Young Elites by Marie Lu
This is the book I had been waiting for. It was a nice splash of YA in the midst of my 400-level English kind of readings. I powered through it in a night, and was surprised by it. It has the pretty standard lines of YA through it, but there were some aspects that had me go, "Oh! That's new!" The protagonist was abused horribly as a young girl, which isn't terribly surprising. However, she's also pretty much established as a horrifying murderer, and her magic is powered by hate and fear, both her own and others'. THAT'S pretty... grisly, I suppose, for a nice little young-adult novel. But definitely the most surprising part---
**HUGE SPOILERS**
was that the prince, the man they were all fighting to put back in power, the love interest even, DIES. And not in any way that lets you imagine, "Oh, maybe he's not really dead and he's just pretending for the sake of the duel!" No. This guy is gutted with a sword straight through his body, guts hanging out and everything. And not only that, but it's the main girl's fault. She attacked him in a blind terror and then his opponent totally gutted him. So... she's not doing so hot in this novel. There was an epilogue in another country though, that suggested we might see him reanimated like a zombie, albeit with some unknown yet creepy complications...I think we'll see....Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
Well, this one was for school. I thought I would really hate it, and I kind of did for a while. As I pushed through, I developed a better understanding of it though. This book is an interesting hybrid told in an unusual way. The narrator is the friend of a poet who was murdered. The friend takes it upon himself to provide explanatory notes to his friend's poem so that he can publish it posthumously. However, the narrator just turns everything into a story about his homeland and his king there, like some kind of absurdly patriotic guy who's so upset that his friend didn't write the poem about the stories the narrator told him about his homeland that he's using the poem and established author's fame to hijack it and tell his own story.
That's all true. However, it makes a little more sense when you learn through the process of the egotistical narrator's notes that
**HUGE SPOILERS**
(well, maybe not... but still.)
he's actually the king he knows so much about. It becomes obvious pretty early on, but he never actually gets to the point of expressly admitting it until the last twenty pages or so, when he finally shifts from "The king thought this" to "I couldn't believe how..." (shifts from a clearly false third-person to a more honest first-person). The ending was... odd. The parallel stories were interestingly woven though, and by the end I had a more invested interest and respect for the narrator, the story, and the actual author, Nabokov, for weaving such contrasting threads into a complementary tapestry.The Gate Thief by Orson Scott Card
I didn't actually get much farther in this, but I did listen to some of it so I wanted to include it in here. Clearly, as you can tell from the VOLUMES I had to say about the other two books this week, I had a lot of other things on my mind. :)
Saturday, February 14, 2015
February 8 - 14
Since I'm on break from school next week, I have some time to read non-school-related books! (Well, kind of.) Here's what I've got for now.
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
I've never read this. It didn't come about in high school, and I felt like I should know it, especially if I'm going to be a teacher. My thoughts so far are that the narrator is super annoying. Does he really need to sweat so often? I know it's part of the character, which totally nails a 14-year-old boy, but jeez, does that get on my nerves. It's so unnecessary. The character, BEYOND the constant goddamns, is quite interesting and rather endearing. He's so obviously trying hard to be aloof and suave (and actually thinks he's so suave at times!) that it's just adorable and sweet to watch, even as he tries to save his nervous little face by cussing in every sentence. I'm not too far in yet, but I'm interested to see where this goes.
The Gate Thief by Orson Scott Card
I grabbed the audiobook of this, the sequel to The Lost Gate that I read/listened to over the summer. It was helpful on my 3-hour drive home for break. Stefan Rutnicky narrated again, so of course it was wonderful. There was actually a part, a part about "angry gates" from the heart-hoards of other mages, that was pretty sad and freaky, so I stopped listening that night. I didn't want those images in my head or in my dreams! It's quite interesting though. We've gone to Middlegard!! Pretty awesome. And of course all kinds of new magery are possible. I'm nervous about the friends, though... they seem like clueless high school idiots. I guess we'll see how that goes, but I sense betrayal, even if by accident, in the future.
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
I've never read this. It didn't come about in high school, and I felt like I should know it, especially if I'm going to be a teacher. My thoughts so far are that the narrator is super annoying. Does he really need to sweat so often? I know it's part of the character, which totally nails a 14-year-old boy, but jeez, does that get on my nerves. It's so unnecessary. The character, BEYOND the constant goddamns, is quite interesting and rather endearing. He's so obviously trying hard to be aloof and suave (and actually thinks he's so suave at times!) that it's just adorable and sweet to watch, even as he tries to save his nervous little face by cussing in every sentence. I'm not too far in yet, but I'm interested to see where this goes.
The Gate Thief by Orson Scott Card
I grabbed the audiobook of this, the sequel to The Lost Gate that I read/listened to over the summer. It was helpful on my 3-hour drive home for break. Stefan Rutnicky narrated again, so of course it was wonderful. There was actually a part, a part about "angry gates" from the heart-hoards of other mages, that was pretty sad and freaky, so I stopped listening that night. I didn't want those images in my head or in my dreams! It's quite interesting though. We've gone to Middlegard!! Pretty awesome. And of course all kinds of new magery are possible. I'm nervous about the friends, though... they seem like clueless high school idiots. I guess we'll see how that goes, but I sense betrayal, even if by accident, in the future.
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