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Books!
Books!
I seem to have read a great number of books over the past few weeks and months (even more so than usual), so here goes with some reviews.
Also, here is my library at LibraryThing.com, excluding the collection of Enid Blyton books I still need to go through. Just about everything else I own is there, though.
on the Jellicoe Road - Melina Marchetta
Melina Marchetta wrote Looking for Alibrandi, probably one of my favourite books of all time, back in 1993, which was her first novel. Jellicoe Road definitely shows maturity as a writer - the story is more dense, and it's both heavier and more meaningful. The characters are just as amazing as Alibrandi, though, and it's just as moving.
It's a little tough to get into - it's not as accessible as Alibrandi, but it's definitely worth the work.
(This is the 2009 Printz Award winner)
An Abundance of Katherines - John Green
I wasn't sure I was liking this until maybe three quarters through when I realised it was past midnight and I wasn't going to stop reading till I finished. If this was a movie from the 80s, John Cusack would play the lead.
Actually, it played out a little bit like High Fidelity, which is not a movie from the 80s, but does star John Cusack. It's a little geeky, a little cute, a little funny and a little sad. I don't know that that it works quite as well as the author wants it to work - it's romcom written for boys, and that just ... doesn't fit - but it's entertaining, even if it's not earth shattering.
The Adoration of Jenna Fox - Mary E Pearson
This sets itself up as a thriller/mystery, which might have worked, had I not worked out what happened to Jenna within a few pages. Jenna herself is a sympathetic character, and you do want to know what's happened to her. Her grandmother Lily is fascinating, but her parents are basically one dimensional twits. And since the mystery is either guessed within a few pages, or revealed quite early - Jenna wakes up with no memory of who she is, and needs to find out before she can move on - I'm kind of struggling to remember the rest of the plot. This is getting rave reviews, but clearly I wasn't that impressed.
Halfway to Good - Kirsten Murphy
I was quite impressed with this, actually, and ending up reading it again basically right away. Told from third-person POV but alternating between graduate teacher Anna and Year 11 student Luke, it goes over their first semester of school, with both of them trying to find their way. Before you go there, no, there's no romance between them - the connection is that Luke is in Anna's English class, and Anna's sister dates Luke's brother. It's a nicely written story with strong characters, and the opposing storylines of a 17 year old boy and a 22 year old woman mean it feels a little more grown up than most YA, but still firmly in the coming-of-age genre.
Noughts and Crosses - Malorie Blackman
In Sephy and Callum's world, Crosses enjoy all the privileges on offer, while noughts were only released from slavery a few decades ago. A rebellion is growing among the noughts, and Callum's family is right in the middle, while Sephy's politician father will do anything to stamp out all thoughts of rebellion. Through it all, Sephy and Callum keep up their strange friendship.
This is a revisionist history. In Blackman's work, Crosses are blacks, while noughts are white. It seems like a radical idea, but in truth, on paper it doesn't matter what colour skin the protagonists have - the prejudices are shocking no matter what. The books starts out quite innocently, but quickly sinks into a much deeper story, and is very, very good. It's also a trilogy, so I plan to hunt down books 2 and 3 very soon.
Beastly - Alex Finn
Beastly is a re-telling of Beauty and the Beast, told from the Beast's POV. I mostly love retellings - there's a lovely book by Adele Gearas called 'Happy Ever After' that I will review one day that I love. This pulls Belle and the Beast to modern day NYC, where the Prince is popular highschool jerk who one day insults the wrong girl. Turned into a beast, his famous tv journalist father locks him away in a Brooklyn mansion, where an enchanted mirror and an internet connection are his only links to the world - until one day, a drunk breaks in. Caught by the beast, the drunk promises to hand over his only daughter in exchange for his freedom. The story itself is pretty predictable, since it follows the fairytale. My favourite parts were actually the chapter openings, in which the Beast joins an online support group consisting of a mermaid who wishes to be human, a human-turned-bear and the two sisters he meets and a frog searching for a princess (he types in netspeak, because it's hard to type with frog's legs).
These are books I've just read in the last couple of weeks - I'm also re-reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, in preparation, and next up, (don't laugh!) I'm going to read LA Candy, "by" Lauren "The Hills" Conrad (plus uncredited ghostwriter, I'm sure). After I rot my brain on that, I still have Diary of Anne Frank, Watership Down, The Book Thief, Go Ask Alice and a few others to get through. Also, have the day off on Monday, since I'm going out Sunday night, and I think I'm going to pay a visit to Borders at Highpoint, so I'm sure I'll end up with more then. :)
I seem to have read a great number of books over the past few weeks and months (even more so than usual), so here goes with some reviews.
Also, here is my library at LibraryThing.com, excluding the collection of Enid Blyton books I still need to go through. Just about everything else I own is there, though.
on the Jellicoe Road - Melina Marchetta
Melina Marchetta wrote Looking for Alibrandi, probably one of my favourite books of all time, back in 1993, which was her first novel. Jellicoe Road definitely shows maturity as a writer - the story is more dense, and it's both heavier and more meaningful. The characters are just as amazing as Alibrandi, though, and it's just as moving.
It's a little tough to get into - it's not as accessible as Alibrandi, but it's definitely worth the work.
(This is the 2009 Printz Award winner)
An Abundance of Katherines - John Green
I wasn't sure I was liking this until maybe three quarters through when I realised it was past midnight and I wasn't going to stop reading till I finished. If this was a movie from the 80s, John Cusack would play the lead.
Actually, it played out a little bit like High Fidelity, which is not a movie from the 80s, but does star John Cusack. It's a little geeky, a little cute, a little funny and a little sad. I don't know that that it works quite as well as the author wants it to work - it's romcom written for boys, and that just ... doesn't fit - but it's entertaining, even if it's not earth shattering.
The Adoration of Jenna Fox - Mary E Pearson
This sets itself up as a thriller/mystery, which might have worked, had I not worked out what happened to Jenna within a few pages. Jenna herself is a sympathetic character, and you do want to know what's happened to her. Her grandmother Lily is fascinating, but her parents are basically one dimensional twits. And since the mystery is either guessed within a few pages, or revealed quite early - Jenna wakes up with no memory of who she is, and needs to find out before she can move on - I'm kind of struggling to remember the rest of the plot. This is getting rave reviews, but clearly I wasn't that impressed.
Halfway to Good - Kirsten Murphy
I was quite impressed with this, actually, and ending up reading it again basically right away. Told from third-person POV but alternating between graduate teacher Anna and Year 11 student Luke, it goes over their first semester of school, with both of them trying to find their way. Before you go there, no, there's no romance between them - the connection is that Luke is in Anna's English class, and Anna's sister dates Luke's brother. It's a nicely written story with strong characters, and the opposing storylines of a 17 year old boy and a 22 year old woman mean it feels a little more grown up than most YA, but still firmly in the coming-of-age genre.
Noughts and Crosses - Malorie Blackman
In Sephy and Callum's world, Crosses enjoy all the privileges on offer, while noughts were only released from slavery a few decades ago. A rebellion is growing among the noughts, and Callum's family is right in the middle, while Sephy's politician father will do anything to stamp out all thoughts of rebellion. Through it all, Sephy and Callum keep up their strange friendship.
This is a revisionist history. In Blackman's work, Crosses are blacks, while noughts are white. It seems like a radical idea, but in truth, on paper it doesn't matter what colour skin the protagonists have - the prejudices are shocking no matter what. The books starts out quite innocently, but quickly sinks into a much deeper story, and is very, very good. It's also a trilogy, so I plan to hunt down books 2 and 3 very soon.
Beastly - Alex Finn
Beastly is a re-telling of Beauty and the Beast, told from the Beast's POV. I mostly love retellings - there's a lovely book by Adele Gearas called 'Happy Ever After' that I will review one day that I love. This pulls Belle and the Beast to modern day NYC, where the Prince is popular highschool jerk who one day insults the wrong girl. Turned into a beast, his famous tv journalist father locks him away in a Brooklyn mansion, where an enchanted mirror and an internet connection are his only links to the world - until one day, a drunk breaks in. Caught by the beast, the drunk promises to hand over his only daughter in exchange for his freedom. The story itself is pretty predictable, since it follows the fairytale. My favourite parts were actually the chapter openings, in which the Beast joins an online support group consisting of a mermaid who wishes to be human, a human-turned-bear and the two sisters he meets and a frog searching for a princess (he types in netspeak, because it's hard to type with frog's legs).
These are books I've just read in the last couple of weeks - I'm also re-reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, in preparation, and next up, (don't laugh!) I'm going to read LA Candy, "by" Lauren "The Hills" Conrad (plus uncredited ghostwriter, I'm sure). After I rot my brain on that, I still have Diary of Anne Frank, Watership Down, The Book Thief, Go Ask Alice and a few others to get through. Also, have the day off on Monday, since I'm going out Sunday night, and I think I'm going to pay a visit to Borders at Highpoint, so I'm sure I'll end up with more then. :)