Theme Thursday -- Location -- Moonglass by Jessi Kirby

Hosted by Reading Between the Pages

Rules:

*A theme will be posted each week on Thursday
*Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading that features the theme
*Post it and don't forget to mention the author and title of the book
*Event is open for the whole week
*Link back to Reading Between the Pages

This week's theme is location(where the story is set).

The beach and its cottages stood out in stark contrast to the other side of the Pacific Coast Highway.  Across four lanes, lining the hills, was a series of homes that were really more like the celebrity compounds I'd seen in magazines.  The higher up the hill they were, the taller the columns and the wider the arches got, like each house was in competition with the next.  It was ridiculous.  And sort of intimidating, if I was being honest with myself.


~p13, Moonglass by Jessi Kirby


I enjoyed this young adult novel about Anna, whose mother killed herself ten years prior to the novel's beginning.  When Anna's dad takes a transfer to the exact beach where he met her mom, Anna has to decide how much she wants to know more about her mother's life and death.  I definitely cried the last 30 pages or so.  This is a great first novel from Kirby.

Teaser Tuesdays -- Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB @ Should Be Reading. To participate, all you have to do is the following:

• Grab your current/upcoming read
• Open to a random page
• Share 2-3 "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers!

A planet no human being has ever been on before.

  

The boy stands up.  He's so tall, it doesn't feel fair to call him a boy, but at the same time, he's got a bit of a baby face, as if he's never seen or done anything to make him grow up, to make the angels of his face sharpen with the harshness of age.

page 88, Across the Universe by Beth Revis 

This one has been making the rounds among YA readers.  Amy is a teenager who, along with her parents, was cryogenically frozen and place upon Godspeed, a spaceship on its three hundred year journey to a new planet.  When she wakes up early, she is quickly thrown into several mysteries -- including the question of who unplugged her, nearly causing her death. 

I was not nearly as captivated with Across the Universe as I expected to be.  In fact, it's one of the few times, when reading a YA book, that I think maybe I understand the reservations of YA-skeptical adults -- I was aware, with Revis' book, that I am older than her target audience -- I felt a disconnect that I seldom experience with YA fiction, but perhaps it happens more often with other adults than it does with me.  Nonetheless, I will want to pick up the sequel when it comes out . . . And it brought some of the same large issues to the surface that Battlestar Galactica does for me.  3.5/5 stars

Delirum by Lauren Oliver

Ninety-five days, and then I'll be safe.  I wonder whether the procedure will hurt.  I want to get it over with.  It's hard to be patient.  It's hard not to be afraid while I'm still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn't touched me yet.  Still, I worry.  They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness.  The deadliest of all deadly things:  It kills you both when you have it and when you don't.  
~book cover flap, Delirium  by Lauren Oliver

Lena is eager to have her procedure, to feel safe and secure from amor deliria nervosa -- love, in other words.    She's been taught, from a young age, how lucky she is that she lives in a time where nobody needs to suffer needlessly from this disease.  Now that the procedure exists, there are no wars, no unhappiness, just stability and stable emotions.  Lena knows and believes this to be true, that things are better now than in the "old days" before the procedure was perfected. When she meets Alex, though, she begins to question what she's been told. 

The ending of this book reminded me of The Handmaid's Tale-- not in detail or plot, necessarily, but in the emotions it leaves behind -- an idea that everything is not perfect, that there is sadness and difficulty ahead, but that the path ahead is nonetheless brighter than the path the character is leaving behind.  (Ooh, and I just read that it's the first in a trilogy!)

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Crank is the first in a series by Ellen Hopkins, loosely based on her daughter's own addiction to meth.  I picked this book up, not only because it has been so popular, but because my younger brother is in prison on meth-related charges.  I wanted to share two of the poems I thought perhaps my brother could identify with.

Just Before the Drop
(p.88-9)

You know how you
stand and stand and stand
in line for the most gigantic incredible roller
                                                                                                                   coaster
you've ever dared attempt.

Anticipation swelling,
minute by minute by minute,
you choose to wait even
longer, to ride in the front

                                                           car
and finally it's your turn.

They buckle you in, lock the
safety bar with a jolting clunk!
Hook engaged, the chain jerks
you forward.  You start to
                                                           climb
crank-crank-crank.

Cresting over the top, time
moves into overtime
as you wait for that scant
hesitation, just before you
                                                        drop
knowing you can't turn back.

You know how you feel
at that instant?  Well, that's
exactly how it feels when you
shake hands with the
                                                         monster.

Problem Number Four:  Feeling Good

(p. 414-5)

The biggest problem of all.

You know how riding real fast 

in a car

or a spectacular takeoff

in a jet

gives you an awesome rush of adrenaline?

You know how spotting an eagle

cruising low over

the treetops, 

or watching a baby finally master

the try-try-again

of walking makes you glow all over?

You know how singing a beautiful song

with dead-on pitch,

or getting every test answer right,

including the extra credit

brainteaser,

makes you feel like you could take on the world?

You know how waking up to perfect skies,

enough sunshine to warm you, not 

enough to bake you,

or watching a silent fall of quarter-sized

snowflakes

gives you delicious shivers of pleasure?

Somewhere on my stroll

with the monster,

I'd lost these things.

Related articles

• Authors' boycott cancels Teen Lit festival after Ellen Hopkins 'disinvited' (guardian.co.uk)

Teaser Tuesdays -- October 19, 2010 -- The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

Marta's laugh sounded life-threatening.  "I'm fine.  I just don't sleep much anymore."

~ p. 268 The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller

 It's been a slow couple of days for me, reading-wise.  (Lots of stuff I'm trying to figure out right now.)  I'm vacillating on what I think of this one.  Have any of you read this?  

Friday 56 -- October 15, 2010 -- The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller

Welcome to The Friday 56, hosted by Storytime with Tonya.
Here’s how it works:
Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
*Post a link along with your post back to this blog.
* Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

As her grandmother's heels clicked down the hall, Haven pushed open the trap door and climbed into the attic.  There were no cobwebs in the corners or dust bunnies roaming the floor -- Imogene's maid saw to that.  Just boxes stacked neatly along the walls, entire decades relegated to obscurity.
~The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller


After I read the first page of this book, I almost just put it back in the library bag.  I'm enjoying it now and glad I didn't!

WWW Wednesday -- September 1, 2010

To play along, just answer the following three questions……

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you will read next?

Currently reading:

• We the Children by Andrew Clements 
• Claim to Fame by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Cover via Amazon

Recently finished:

• The Roar by Emma Clayton
• Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris by R.L. Travers
• Miss or Mrs?, The Haunted Hotel, The Guilty River by Wilkie Collins
• The Firefly Letters by Margarita Engle 

Up Next:

• Faith, Hope, and Ivy June by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
• Steering the Craft:  Exercises and Discussions on Story Writing for the Lone Navigator or the Mutinous Crew by Ursula K. Le Guin
  

Wrapping up Tattooed Books' YALSA Challenge

You can read Tattooed Books' original post about the challenge here.  And mine is here.

There are 3 different levels to the challenge.

Solo:  1-8 books

Duet:  9-17 books

Three-Part Harmony: 18-26 books

My original plan:

Cover via Amazon

I've already read:

Cashore, Kristin. Fire

Collins, Suzanne. Catching Fire

Fisher, Catherine. Incarceron

Fitzpatrick, Becca. hush, hush

Stiefvater, Maggie. Shiver

Westerfeld, Scott. Leviathan 
Red -- don't read.  Purple -- must read.  Black -- hard to say.

I think I'd like to read:

Cover of Heist Society

Carter, Ally. Heist Society
Anderson, Laurie Halse. Wintergirls
Dessen, Sarah. Along for the Ride
Forman, Gayle. If I Stay
Clayton, Emma. The Roar
Tanigawa, Nagaru. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya    



I started reading The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya yesterday and just didn't care a single bit about the story.  After which I didn't even try Along for the Ride.  I'm sure my bad attitude was at least somewhat related to the fact that I'd just finished The Roar, which also didn't captivate me -- I wanted to be reading something that didn't feel like a waste of the precious hours of my life.  :)

Other than those two books, though, I've definitely enjoyed this challenge and am glad I took part.  I'm also glad I still completed the duet level!

Book Beginnings -- The Roar by Emma Clayton

Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by Becky at Page Turners. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading. If you like, share with everyone why you do, or do not, like the sentence.

Cover of Roar

I read The Roar by Emma Clayton for Tattooed Books' YALSA Challenge.   First sentence:

The sun was setting over the Atlantic, and as it ran like molten gold into the waves a girl in a Pod Fighter ripped through the scene like graffiti sprayed across a landscape painting.

I just didn't love this book.  It's 481 pages and I found myself plodding through it.    I don't even think I'll pick up the next one in the series, assuming there is one -- and that is rare for me, to not continue with a series. Have others read this and had a different experience? 

Teaser Tuesday -- Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Miz B of Should Be Reading and asks you to :
1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3 . Share 2 "teaser" sentences also citing the title of the book and the author and in that way people can have great recommendations if they like the "teaser".
4. Please avoid spoilers!

Nobody here is Cassie.   I'm safe. 

~ p. 92, Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Brutal, harsh, and relentless.  Laurie Halse Anderson (author of Speak) has crafted a very intense YA novel about Lia, an eighteen-year-old who is anorexic.  Lia's once best friend (the aforementioned Cassie) dies and Lia struggles to remain in "control" while deeply desiring positive connections with her mother, father, stepmother and stepsister. 

I would be curious to hear what someone who has struggled with an eating disorder (or those close to them) would have to say about the story.  The way that different people chose to respond to Lia and to her anorexia and cutting reminded me of Still Alice -- in that I'm fascinated by the variety of possible responses to a given crisis and how incredibly difficult it is to know which response is most helpful or effective in the long term. 

The Elijah character ever so slightly didn't work for me -- but it may be that Anderson just made him so real and three-dimensional that I was sad and disappointed -- You know, just like real-life with real-life people. 

I would certainly recommend this book -- Anderson really gets inside Lia's mind and helps make sense of anorexia for those who have never been there.

Teaser Tuesday -- Heist Society by Ally Carter

 Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Cover of Heist Society

 "I'm going to miss our little chats, Katarina.  You should know that it's out of respect for your mother's family that I have tried to do this in the most honorable way possible." 

~p. 149,  Heist Society by Ally Carter

This was a read for Tattooed Books' YALSA Challenge.  It was a lot of fun to read -- just what I needed right now.  Katarina Bishop wants to leave the only world she's ever known -- thievery and con games with her family -- to lead a normal life -- after one last con, getting herself into a high profile boarding school.  Once in, though, she learns that her father has been accused of a crime he didn't commit.  She finds herself assembling a team to save her father's life and re-steal some extremely valuable paintings.

I love all the names she and her friends have for the various cons -- Mary Poppins, Five O'Clock Shadow, Smokey the Bear, etc., and the one line comments about them.  The whole book reminded me of Oceans Eleven but with a much younger cast -- just as much fun and just as much not like my life.  :)

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Read this for the YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) challenge over at Tattooed Books.  It's pretty short (196 pages).  Seventeen-year-old Mia is in a car accident -- her mother, father, and younger brother are all killed and she is in a coma, but can watch what is happening. She has to decide if she wants to stay with all the goodness that is still in her life (grandparents, boyfriend & best friend, a love for music) or let herself die because of how hard she knows it will be to go on without her family.

I have a feeling that the story line requires too much (un)willing suspension of disbelief for some readers, but I was up for it and liked it.  Who else has read this one?

Challenge from Tattooed Books -- YALSA nominees

Over at Tattooed Books there is a very tempting challenge --

Every year, YALSA (the Young Adult Library Services Association) polls 15 book clubs around the country about what books they think should make the list of the best teen books published in the last year. This year there are 26 nominees that teens (12-18) can vote on between August 23rd and September 17th. The Teen's Top Ten choices are announced during Teen Read Week in October. This year's theme for Teen Read Week is "Books with Beat."If you want more information on any of these events, please visit the YALSA website.  

There are 3 different levels to the challenge.

Solo:  1-8 books

Duet:  9-17 books

Three-Part Harmony: 18-26 books

I've already read:

Cashore, Kristin. Fire

Collins, Suzanne. Catching Fire

Fisher, Catherine. Incarceron

Fitzpatrick, Becca. hush, hush

Stiefvater, Maggie. Shiver

Westerfeld, Scott. Leviathan 
Red -- don't read.  Purple -- must read.  Black -- hard to say.


I think I'd like to read:
Carter, Ally. Heist Society
Anderson, Laurie Halse. Wintergirls
Dessen, Sarah. Along for the Ride
Forman, Gayle. If I Stay
Clayton, Emma. The Roar
Tanigawa, Nagaru. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya      

 So I guess that means I'm aiming for the Duet level!  Sadly, my library account is currently full of holds so I'll have to wait to start getting this list on hold til Tuesday when I go and pick up the holds that are waiting for me!