My Thoughts On: Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

Warm Bodies

by Isaac Marion

R is a young man with an existential crisis-he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams.

After experiencing a teenage boy's memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with the victim's human girlfriend. Julie is a blast of color in the dreary and gray landscape that surrounds R. His decision to protect her will transform not only R but also his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world.

Scary, funny, and surprisingly poignant, WARM BODIES is about being alive, being dead, and the blurry line in between. -(summary from book cover)

My Thoughts:  THIS IS THE MOST FUN I'VE HAD READING A BOOK IN AGES! That is all.

'R' is a zombie that cannot remember anything of his life before his death. He cannot even remember his name. He knows nothing of his former life as a human. He lives in an abandoned airport with other undead zombies. He spends his time shuffling around that airport and occasionally venturing out into the surrounding city to feed on the brains of the living humans. But R despises the feeding habits of the undead. Unlike the other zombies, he hates the killing and is remorseful about it. He even washes his hands and face of the blood of his victims after feeding.

One day, he eats the brain of a young teenage boy and is able to experience the boy's memories. He sees the dead boy's girlfriend, Julie, and feels a very deep need to protect her. R has no desire to eat her or kill her. R saves Julie from other zombies that try to feed on her and dangerously brings her back to the airport to stay with him. From this point, they start a really strange and awkward relationship that is actually kind of sweet. And it is also from this point that things get really interesting in the story...

This is probably my favorite zombie book ever. Initially in the story, it is the same as all of the other zombie stories...something has happened and the world is in a post-apocolyptic state. People are hiding out in buildings to protect themselves and zombies are slowly taking over the world. But pretty soon, we realize that something is different about R. When he finds Julie, however, he begins to become even more different.

Julie is a teenage girl who has grown up in a barricaded stadium that is ruled by her father. There are soldiers. There is a curfew. Everyone is taught survival classes. There is very little food. Basically, Julie is just tired of living life the way she does and dreams of a better life. When she meets R, the two of them together begin a relationship that makes the reader really want them to succeed, even though one of them isn't even alive!

I love, love, love the way the author chose to characterize R. I love everything about him. I don't think I would have changed a single detail about that zombie! I fell hard for him. I adored the way he had such a primal instinct to protect Julie, even though he shouldn't have had any feelings or emotions whatsoever. His character underwent some pretty profound changes, too, throughout the story. I can't really talk about them without giving the ending away.

When I read books, I am usually able to see them unfolding in my head like a movie. The really good books stay in my memory like movies I've seen before. I almost think I could take this book and make a movie out of it myself...it was that good. I would recommend it to everyone...adults and young adults. Do yourself a favor and put this one on your TBR list!

Teaser Tuesday #5 & Tune In Tuesday #3

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. Anybody can play along! Here's how:

• Grab what you are reading...
• Open to a random page.
• Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
• Share the title of the book and the author so other readers can add the book to their TBR pile if they like your teasers.

This Week's Teasers:

"My life shall have but one purpose. That purpose is to kill as many vampires as I can." 

~ page 54-55, Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

 

***This book is crazy, y'all!***

 

 

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Tune In Tuesday

Tune In Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Ginger at GReads! I love music as much as I love reading and sometimes the two can go together. Sometimes when I read a book, a certain song pops into my mind. Normally this is how I play the Tune In Tuesday game, but this week I noticed that several people are kinda going old-school. So I'm gonna go old school too...

...right back to the nineties...I'm a sucker for 90's music!! I have heard people say that 90's music is the worst music out there. Of course, these are typically the people that grew up not listening to it. But I did, and I love it!

To find this song, I picked up my iPod and randomly turned on my songs list and flipped thru. The first song from the 90's that I saw, I picked as today's Tune In Tuesday pick. So, without further ado, I have a little Tonic for you guys...

I absolutely adore this video, even still. It's totally the roller skates and the fake tuxedo shirts. Each on their own is awesome, but when you put them together...it's a recipe for pure supercool funky awesome nineties fashion mixed with excellent tunes. And when I listen to Tonic, which I still do, I sing it OUT LOUD. If any of you reading this know them, you guys do too...

Enjoy!!

(maybe next week, I'll be back to the book-music tie-in. for today, let's just enjoy the music.)

Challenge: Award Winning Reads Challenge, 2011

2011 Award Winning Reads Challenge

This challenge is hosted by

Ashley at Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing and

Jacinda at The Reading Housewives of Indiana.

Rules, Details, Guidelines, & General Information:

The challenge will run from Memorial Day to Labor Day (May 30th until September 5th, 2011).

There will be 4 levels of participation:

Level 1- Underachiever: Read 3 books

Level 2- Nerd: Read 6 books

Level 3- Brainiac: Read 9 books

Level 4- Teacher's Pet: Read 12 books


No matter which level you chose to participate in, you must read at least one book from each of the award lists. You can focus primarily on one or the other, but there must be at least one Printz honor/award and one Newbery honor/award.

Here are links to the books in each category:

Newbery Winners

Newbery Honors

Printz Winners

Printz Honors

I'm super excited about this challenge! I've chosen to participate at the level of NERD!!! Challenge accepted!

My Thoughts On: Room by Emma Donoghue

Room

by Emma Donoghue

To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.

Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, ROOM is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.

My Thoughts:  Room is written from the perspective of Jack, a little boy who has just turned five years old. It is told from his point of view and from his language. Jack tells of his days spent with Ma inside of Room, the 11 x 11 room where they are held captive. Jack has never been to Outside, and Ma only remembers what it was like before her captivity. The only other real person Jack has ever seen before is Old Nick, and he only visits late at night. Jack stays inside of Wardrobe while Old Nick is visiting.

Jack's days are filled with a routine of lots of fun things. Ma has used the few things she has to create a world full of fun and learning for him. He is a happy child and as well-rounded as he can be stuck inside one room for five years. Ma does as well as she can, until one day when she just decides she has been locked up for long enough. She comes up with a plan to get her and Jack out of Room. For the plan to work, Jack has to be very brave.

I cannot tell you what I went through when I was reading this book! From the very highest of happy to the deepest of fear for Jack and Ma...it's all there, in those pages. The language is beautiful. It was so wonderful to read it from the perspective of a five-year-old...in this way, the author was able to present her story with all of the pieces, but it was in the simplistic language of a child. What is even more amazing about this perspective was that I could, as a reader, see things into the story that Jack was not able to see. I could understand the sacrifices his mother was making for him even though he did not understand them. This made the story so much more profound and beautiful.

But the story...the story itself was so gripping. When Ma was describing the escape to Jack, I was fearful. When Jack responded to the story, I was fearful. When the escape attempts were being made, I was insanely fearful. And in the second half of the book, my emotions were up and down and up and down...the second half of the book is a story in and of itself, entirely. Amazing.

I really don't know what else to say about Room except to give it a chance. I would recommend that you read something lighthearted and fun immediately before it and immediately after it. It is heavy but well worth the time you put into it.

This book has won and been short-listed for tons of awards. I totally understand why.

Book Blogger Hop 5/27-5/30, Follow Friday #1, TGIF #2

The Book Blogger Hop is a meme hosted by Crazy For Books in which a question is asked and an answer is given! This week's question/topic is:

"What book-to-movie adaption have you most liked?  

Which have you disliked?"

My Answer:  This is such a tough question for me! As a rule, I don't generally love book-to-movie adaptations because they are never as great as the books. I find that when I do like these types of movies, it is typically because I would have liked them even if I had not read the book...

 

That being said, I suppose an example of one of my favorites would be Ramona and Beezus from 2010. It was cast superbly and the movie was spectacular. Even if I had never read the Beverly Cleary stories, and if I wasn't so attached to Ramona Quimby, I would still love this movie. The little gal who played Ramona was perfect as Ramona.

 

As far as disliking goes...I think I generally dislike the adaptations just a little bit all across the board, without doing it on purpose. I can't help it. An example of this is Beastly by Alex Flinn. Recently I saw the movie in the theater and I was a little disappointed at how far off from the book it was. For example and most obvious to me, the beast in the book was hairy. In the movie, he was not. In the book, Lindy had red hair. In the movie, she was played by Vanessa Hudgins who kept her dark, dark hair for the role. The book was fun and the movie was not terrible, but the two just are not comparable to me. And the movie tie-in cover for the book...well that's just another topic for another week...

 

 

 

 

Follow Friday is a weekly event hosted at Parajunkee's View where a question is asked and answered. All the blogs that participate are linked together in one place. It's really cool.

 

This week, the question is:

 

How many books do you read in one week?

And in what format do you read them or listen to them?

 

My Answer: Life around this house is really unpredictable and crazy with three kids and a busy husband, but I read in every spare moment in can! That being said, I usually get about two or three books read in a week. I do not have an eReader! I have just borrowed my first audiobook from the library, and I find that it is really easy to listen to it in the car. And I am currently reading a "big chapter book" out loud to my kids, a little bit at the time. So my life is filled with books and reading, but mostly it is at the rate of 2-3 books per week.

 

Great question!

 

Ginger at GReads! created this fun weekly event called TGIF at GReads! to re-cap the week and ask us fun questions. This week she asked us this:

In 2011 which new/old authors

have you discovered and loved?

 

1. Philip Pullman: I recently read the first two books in the His Dark Materials trilogy, The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife. I fell in love with them instantly. I have yet to read the third and final book in the series, The Amber Spyglass. I am holding out because I loved the first two so much and I read them so fast. When I lift my book-buying ban, these will probably be the first books I buy.

 

2. Stieg Larsson: I also recently read the first two novels in the Millennium Trilogy (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire) and was blown away at how thrilling and amazing and awesome they are. The main character, Lisbeth Salander, is one of the most complex and butt-kicking book characters out there. I really want to see these movies, but I want to finish the trilogy first.

 

3. John Green: One of the first books I read this year was Paper Towns. It was so incredible! I'm still thinking about random capitalization...that's how incredible. I'm having a royal fit to read Looking for Alaska. Plus, there is something super awesome about somebody (in this case, an author) who wants to rid the world of suck. *DFTBA*

 

**There are a bazillion fantastic authors out there. These are only three of them. I almost feel like I'm doing a disservice to some of my other favorites, but I know that eventually another question will come around when I can talk about them.**

Wow! What a great question!

My Thoughts On: Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen by Susan Gregg Gilmore

Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen

by Susan Gregg Gilmore

Sometimes you have to return to the place where you began, to arrive at the place where you belong.

It’s the early 1970s. The town of Ringgold, Georgia, has a population of 1,923, one traffic light, one Dairy Queen, and one Catherine Grace Cline. The daughter of Ringgold’s third-generation Baptist preacher, Catherine Grace is quick-witted, more than a little stubborn, and dying to escape her small-town life.

Every Saturday afternoon, she sits at the Dairy Queen, eating Dilly Bars and plotting her getaway to Atlanta. And when, with the help of a family friend, the dream becomes a reality, she immediately packs her bags, leaving her family and the boy she loves to claim the life she’s always imagined. But before things have even begun to get off the ground in Atlanta, tragedy brings Catherine Grace back home. As a series of extraordinary events alter her perspective–and sweeping changes come to Ringgold itself–Catherine Grace begins to wonder if her place in the world may actually be, against all odds, right where she began. Intelligent, charming, and utterly readable, Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen marks the debut of a talented new literary voice.  -(summary from back of book)

My Thoughts:  This story follows Catherine Grace Cline as she grows up with her sister and her father. It is, I suppose, a coming-of-age story with very Southern appeal. It reads very well and is very much like a made-for-television movie.

It took me a few pages to really get into this one. But once I got into it, I was very attached to Catherine Grace. She is stubborn and sweet and in the middle of growing up without a mother, and just when things are looking up for her...her father dies. Then all the family secrets start coming out. And boy I mean big family secrets! The kind that are very scandalous in the South...

"My mama and daddy had certainly left me a mess to sort out, and I couldn't think of a single verse of scripture that was going to comfort me as I came to terms with an adultering daddy, a resurrected mama, and an expectant mistress with an imaginary fiance." -Catherine Grace Cline

There are two things that I really love about this book. The first thing is the food. Every few pages, it seems, the characters are talking about cooking or eating some type of wonderfully fabulous Southern food. And being from the South, this totally appeals to me. Food and eating are so cultural down here, and play such a huge role in the story in several different storylines. I love that. (This book almost made me hungry.)

I also fell really hard for the supporting characters in this book. Catherine Grace is a marvelous and lovable girl. She moved into my heart in a big way...but Gloria Jean owned it. Gloria Jean is the neighbor; she does not have any children of her own and happens to have been Catherine Grace's mother's best friend. Gloria Jean teaches Catherine Grace all of the things that a mother would...and more. She helps her buy prom clothes and teaches her about hair and nail polish. But she also teaches Catherine Grace about love, forgiveness, and acceptance. The rest of the characters all are great, but Gloria Jean is my favorite by far.

(All of these double names are starting to make me confused. Gotta love the South.)

Would I recommend this book? Well, sure! If you love adult fiction and sweet, charming stories that are just...really good...then this is the book for you. If you are a fan of YA paranormal or fantasy, you might want to sit this one out, unless you are feeling in the mood for a good made-for-television movie-type book. It was so fun to read and I'm so glad I did!

Teaser Tuesday #4 & Tune In Tuesday #2

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. Anybody can play along! Here's how:

• Grab what you are reading...
• Open to a random page.
• Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
• Share the title of the book and the author so other readers can add the book to their TBR pile if they like your teasers.

This Week's Teasers:

"I mean, isn't 'zombie' just a silly name we came up with for a state of being we don't understand? What's in a name, right?" 

~ page 127, Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

Tune In Tuesday 

Tune In Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Ginger at GReads! I love music as much as I love reading and sometimes the two can go together. Sometimes when I read a book, a certain song pops into my mind. This is another one of those times. (I know that isn't always the spirit of Tune In Tuesday, but it is certainly lots of fun to me. While I have a fun idea, I'm gonna go with it.)

All of the zombie stories I have ever heard before involve zombies eating humans and turning them into zombies. But not this one! This story does a mighty fine job of turning a flesh-eating zombie into someone we completely fall in love with...because he falls in love with a girl named Julie. He saves her life! Instead of biting Julie and eating her brains and turning her into a zombie, he keeps her alive and keeps her safe. Because he loves her! Where on earth have we heard a story like that before? NOWHERE!!! It is so awesome.

Dallas Green of City and Colour does a brilliant and beautiful job of demonstrating the heart-wrenching feelings of R's love for Julie in this song, appropriately titled "The Girl." Green sings "I wish I could do better by you 'cause that's what you deserve..." The main zombie guy (named "R" in the story) goes through this exact same emotion. He has intense feelings of guilt because he is a zombie and cannot give her the same things that a regular human guy can. Strangely enough, even more of the lyrics correlate with the story in fun ways, but you will just have to listen to the music and read the book to figure those ways out...I don't want to give too much of the book away.

Seriously, go listen to City and Colour! You won't regret it. The album Bring Me Your Love goes wonderfully on an iPod and is perfect to listen to at any time, with any emotion. Plus it is way fun that Dallas Green records his music with the name City and Colour because his name is a city (Dallas) and a color (Green). He deserves a listen based on that alone.

Library Loot #3 & In My Mailbox #1

Library Loot is a weekly event that is co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader. It encourages bloggers to share the books they have checked out from their local libraries.

I have some GREAT books checked out to me this week!

1. Across The Universe by Beth Revis. Since I read the first synopsis or blurb or review or whatever of this book, I have wanted to read it. I'm really doing the dystopian thing lately. The summary sounds so cool and the cover is so beautiful. I'm so excited about this one...I can't believe my good fortune at finding it at the library this week!!

2. Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard. I've been hearing about these books for ages and several people have highly recommended them to me. Lately, a good pal and fellow bookworm has been reading this series for a few weeks and keeps talking about how she is devouring this series. When I saw this one (Book One) there, I grabbed it and brought it home. I'm expecting great things from it! (and just in case you're wondering, I have not seen the television show yet either, but I've heard excellent things about it as well...) I don't really know what to expect from the story, but the quote across the top of the book ("Never trust a pretty girl with an ugly secret.") sounds very interesting. Very Gossip Girl-esque.

3. The Maze Runner by James Dashner. I've wanted to read this book for a long time. I'm so all-over the dystopian genre these days. It was on the shelf and it just jumped right into my library bag! This is the first book in Dashner's Maze Runner series.

4.  Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. Another book in the same genre trend I find myself stuck in these days, Ship Breaker is the young adult debut from this author and has been described by other bloggers as gritty. I love the cover and I can't wait to see what this book is about.

In My Mailbox is a weekly event hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren. She uses this time to tell about the books she receives each week either to review, from the library, or from a purchase. Kristi is kind enough to let us all in on her fun and here is my little piece of that!

I recently had the great fortune of winning not one but two books from the Goodreads website. They've just arrived in my mailbox!

1. The Ninth Wife by Amy Stolls. I won this book as part of a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway from HarperCollins. I received a beautiful paperback copy in my mailbox and was thrilled! I can't wait to read it and give my thoughts. Thank you so much to HarperCollins and Goodreads!

2. Wrecker: A Novel by Summer Wood. I won this book as part of a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway from Bloomsbury. I received a beautiful hardwood copy in the mail and can't wait to read it and give my thoughts! Thank you to Bloomsbury and Goodreads!

Book Blogger Hop: 5/20-5/23

The Book Blogger Hop is a meme hosted by Crazy For Books in which a question is asked and an answer is given! This week's question/topic is:

"If you were given the chance to spend one day in a fictional world (from a book), which book would it be
from and what would that place be?"

My Answer:  I think it might be fun to spend a day at Hogwarts. It sounds kind of neat...hidden from the eyes of muggles and in the hills of Scotland with a big lake nearby. Sometimes I think it might be nice to spend a little bit of time without electricity, without being connected to the phone and the TV and the internet and all that stuff. I don't remember anything electric about the Harry Potter books that I have read so far...

It might be fun to ride the Hogwarts Express. And see paintings that are kind-of/sort-of real but not really. And be able to practice spells and make potions. And to find hidden passageways. And to visit Hogsmeade. And play Quidditch. And most of all, fly on a broom.

Fun question this week!

My Thoughts On: The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Played With Fire

by Stieg Larsson

Mikael Blomkvist, crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society, business, and government.

But he has no idea just how explosive the story will be until, on the eve of publication, the two investigating reporters are murdered. And even more shocking for Blomkvist:  the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander--the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker who came to his aid in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and who now becomes the focus and fierce heart of The Girl Who Played With Fire. 

As Blomkvist, alone in his belief in Salander's innocence, plunges into an investigation of the slayings, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous hunt in which she is the prey, and which compels her to revisit her dark past in an effort to settle with it once and for all.  -(summary from inside book jacket)

My Thoughts:  First of all, let me just make it known that for all the difficulty I had in 'getting into' the The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, I had absolutely no difficulty whatsoever becoming enthralled in this book. The action started immediately and only escalated until the ending. I mean, I actually felt like I was exercising at some points during the book. Okay, that's a little far-fetched, but this book is intense. And intense for me comes with palpitations.

Lisbeth Salander is quite a character. She is so fierce and independent and smart. She makes me proud to be a girl. Anything a guy can do, she can do better. Seriously. But she is one of the saddest characters I have ever read about too. She is so lonely, although she probably would never admit it. Lisbeth has built a wall around herself higher than even she knows, and it has everything to do with "All The Evil" that happened to her when she was just a child. She is a product of her environment and not nurture. Her complex personality and standoffishness makes me really like her.

Lisbeth really frustrates me where Mikael Blomkvist is concerned, however. I realize he is much older than she is, and that their semi-professional/semi-emotional relationship is a little weird (for lack of a better word), but it isn't very nice to just write somebody out of your life without any explanation. This is exactly what Lisbeth did to poor Mikael. When Lisbeth was named as the prime suspect in the triple-murder with incriminating evidence that pretty much had her sentenced before she was caught and tried in court, it was Mikael's persistence that ended up saving Lisbeth, in more ways than one. He was so convinced she was innocent that the lengths he went to just to prove it were crazy! And dangerous!

I loved the way Mr. Larsson gave some of Lisbeth's background in this book. In The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, we learned about Lisbeth being so "hard" but we really do not learn why. In this book, we learn about "All The Evil" and we totally understand why.

The best part of the book, to me, is that this awesome, ferocious, confident, fierce, butt-kicking gal character took on the bad guys again...and she almost lost this time. It just goes to show that everyone, even the coolest and fiercest of people, have flaws and soft underbellies and are vulnerable to something.

I have read a few reviews in which the readers felt that this book was not as exciting or excellent as the first book in this series. I disagree. I felt like it was much more exciting, but just as great of a novel. It was much easier to break into and understand because I already had all of the background information on the characters from the first novel. Some reviewers suggested that readers could easily adapt to this as a stand-alone novel, but I would not suggest reading this book without reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo first. I am, however, looking for some resolution for a couple of things in the next and final installment in this series. (I am so sad that Mr. Larsson had an untimely death prior to finishing his planned ten-book series.)

It will be a good, long while before I finish this series. I do not like the idea of a series being over when I am done with it, so I like to keep it in limbo for awhile. So I'm going to hang onto the idea of The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest while I read some other books for awhile. I recommend this series to anyone else who may not have read it yet. It is intense, but it is quite excellent. Well worth the time to read it.

TGIF #1

Ginger at GReads! created this fun weekly event called TGIF at GReads! to re-cap the week and ask us fun questions. This week she asked us this:

What was the first book

you reviewed on your blog?

Well...I first started out with a Tumblr account where I would talk about all sorts of things, including the books I was reading. When I decided to do a real book blog, I started this Blogger account and moved some of my review posts over here. While I read some super great books while I was on Tumblr, the first books I gave my thoughts on for Blogger were City of Ashes and City of Glass by Cassandra Clare. I wrote both of those reviews on the same day and posted them at pretty much the same time. I was so nervous, but I think it was a long time before anyone ever saw them.

I'm still pretty new on Blogger and excited that things are picking up a little bit. I'm hoping that all of the readers that I have that communicate with me via text messaging, email, facebook, and talking face-to-face will eventually subscribe to my blog!

Thanks Ginger! This was a fun question!

Challenge: Dystopia Challenge, 2011

                         


I am officially joining in on the fun that is the 2011 Dystopia Challenge. This challenge is hosted by Bonnie at Bookish Ardour and seems like a great fit for me since I read so much dystopian literature anyway. This post is my official entry. The challenge started on January 1, 2011 so I am late into the game. For this reason, I will aim low.

For those of you who are not quite sure what I mean by the term dystopian, I'll let Bonnie explain it. This was taken from her blog: 

This might help though. What is Dystopia: ‘An imaginary place where the conditions and quality of life are unpleasant. The opposite of Utopia.’  -from Bookish Ardour

Chances are that some of you have already read some of these types of literature. For example, if you have read The Hunger Games trilogy, you've read dystopian novels. You just may not have realized it!

Challenge Levels

1. Asocial–  Choose 5 books to read
2. Contagion – Choose 15 books to read
3. Soldier – Choose 30 books to read
4. Drone – Choose 50 books to read
5. Conditioned – Choose 75 books to read

I am choosing to enter at the Asocial level because nearly half of the year has gone by already. If I read more than the required five books, then that is awesome. But I will aim low this year and make sure to start at the beginning of next year. There are plenty of dystopian novels out there to keep me busy for the next few years.

This challenge runs from January 1, 2011 until December 31, 2011.

Library Loot #2

 Library Loot is a weekly event that is co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader. It encourages bloggers to share the books they have checked out from their local libraries.

I have some GREAT books checked out to me this week!

1. The Giver by Lois Lowry. I've wanted to read this book for quite some time and now seemed like the right time. The dystopian theme seems to be kind of big right now and I love it.

2. The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan. I recently devoured Carrie Ryan's first book, The Forest of Hands and Teeth. I couldn't wait to get my hands on this second book in her trilogy and was excited when it was waiting patiently for me at the library.

3. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion. When I saw this book on the shelf, I squealed. Here is a book about a zombie with emotions. A zombie love story? Yes. Straight into my library bag and onto my shelf. I can't wait to read it.

4. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. Scott Westerfeld has been one of my absolute favorite writers for years now. Why I haven't read this series yet is beyond me. There is no time like the present.

5. Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith. Are you kidding me? Why on earth wouldn't I want to read this book? Just look at it! (No sooner did I bring it home than the hubby snagged it to read first.)

6. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. This is the first book in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy and my first Libba Bray book. The cover is stunning and I was thrilled to check it out. Can't wait to read it. (I renewed this from my last library trip.)

7. If I Stay by Gayle Forman. This is the first of two books. Both have pretty covers. I am excited to have it in my possession. (This is what I'm currently reading. I'm excited about it. Seems pretty good so far.)

Teaser Tuesday #3 & Tune In Tuesday #1

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. Anybody can play along! Here's how:

• Grab what you are reading...
• Open to a random page.
• Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
• Share the title of the book and the author so other readers can add the book to their TBR pile if they like your teasers.

This Week's Teasers:

"I edge closer and now I know that it's not Teddy lying there. It's me." 

~ page 17, If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Tune In Tuesday 

Tune In Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Ginger at GReads! I love music as much as I love reading and sometimes the two can go together. Sometimes when I read a book, a certain song pops into my mind. This is one of those times.

This week (my FIRST official Tune In Tuesday!) the song that sticks out to me is Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here". Okay, okay, I realize I didn't put Pink Floyd's version of the song up here for you to enjoy...but I figure that unless you live under a rock, you've probably heard it. I did, however, decide to post my favorite cover of "Wish You Were Here" by a band called Circa Survive. You may know it or maybe not...either way, I think it ties in perfectly with If I Stay by Gayle Forman.

If I Stay is the story of Mia and her thoughts and feelings immediately after an awful car accident in which she has lost several people that she loves. In the hours following the accident, she is literally looking at herself and the people she loves from another body and another set of eyes. When the song speaks about "...lost souls swimming in a fish bowl..." it reminds me of poor Mia and how hopeless and lost she must be feeling. I have not finished the book yet and have no idea if there is resolution at the end, but I cannot wait to find out. (I can't seem to put it down, so I'm sure I will find out soon!)

If you've read this book, I wonder if this song strikes a similar chord with you and makes you think of Mia? If you have not read this book yet, you should at some point. It is quite good. If you're not interested in the book, just listen to the song. Pink Floyd is wonderful on their own, but when Anthony Green sings this song the sun shines brighter and birds sing beautifully along with him for about four minutes.

My Thoughts On: Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Moon Over Manifest

by Clare Vanderpool

My Thoughts:  12-year-old Abilene Tucker has spent her entire life traveling with her father, Gideon, as he worked on the railroad. But suddenly he has sent her to Manifest, Kansas to live with Pastor Shady Howard, and she does not understand why. Abilene is a little heartbroken and misses Gideon terribly, but she clings to the day at the end of the summer when he will come and get her and take her back home with him.

When I read books that are this well-written, I have a hard time knowing what to say to people. All I really know how to do is recommend the book. But somehow I don't really feel like that is enough. Clare Vanderpool has written her first novel in Moon Over Manifest, and somehow she managed to snag the 2011 Newberry Award for excellence in children's literature. So, right away that tells us that there is something special about this story.

Each of these characters are so unique, so special, and so real that I feel like I now know them. Ms. Vanderpool has not only made them believable to me, but she has made me so emotionally attached to them because of their stories. Quite a few of the townspeople from Manifest, Kansas are immigrants to the United States from other places, and through the reading of this book I was able to gain perspective of what it must have been like for those people to uproot, risk everything, and come here to America to live during the early 1900's. Through her words, I visualized the hardships, the emotions, and the prejudices that they went through. And I totally fell in love with them all...the nice ones and the mean ones.

I have read stories with multiple narrators in the past and I have found myself a bit confused at times. Considering that this story starts out in 1936 and finds its way to 1918, and then switches back and forth, there is the potential for confusion. Not in this case, however. Not only did Ms. Vanderpool make the transition between narrator and time smooth and easy to manage, but the publishers did as well as they made different fonts for the different settings of the story. In addition to the different settings in time, the narration changes between several different characters and a newspaper article.

There are several important things to be taken away from my thoughts on this book:

1. Abilene Tucker may be a twelve-year-old little girl, but she is one tough cookie. She is going through a lot at this point in her life. She has lots of questions, and she intends on finding the answers. I love, though, the patience in her persistence. I think I could stand to learn a few things from this child, and that is one of the reasons I am so glad that I read this book. (Abilene could possibly show up on my 'favorite book character' lists in the future.)
2. Please, please, please don't count out a book because it is labeled as a children's book. This book is an absolute gem. It is written for middle school-aged readers, but there is plenty of substance in there for us big people. I have read reviews from people way older than me that loved the way Ms. Vanderpool helped them to reminisce about these times, and I have read reviews from people closer to my age that are thankful that young people are reading enjoyable books with plenty of historical content inside of them.
3. I believe that this book has the potential to end up on required reading lists in public school settings, if it is not already. My children are a bit too young still for me to be 'in the know' about the required reading in schools these days, so I can't speak on a basis of absolute knowledge. In my opinion, however, this would be a great selection for classroom enhancement or discussion.

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. To everyone. I spent my Mother's Day reading it in peace, thanks to my husband and children. It was glorious. It is a splendid book and I think Ms. Vanderpool did an excellent job with her first novel.

My Thoughts On: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Angel

by Cassandra Clare

Magic is dangerous--but love is more dangerous still.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.
 
Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What's more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own.
 
Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by--and torn between--two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length...everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world...and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.   -(summary from amazon.com)



My Thoughts:   When Tessa Gray's ship arrived in London after the long voyage from New York, she fully expected her brother Nathaniel to be present to greet her and take her to her new home. Instead, she was met and kidnapped by the creepy Dark Sisters. Held against her will and forced to develop an unknown magical power, Tessa fears she will never see Nate again. She is soon rescued and taken to the Institute by Will and Jem, two Shadowhunters. Confused and terrified, Tessa begins to learn about a world full of creatures she never imagined really existed.

Tessa never imagined she would be right in the center of that world.

Clockwork Angels is the first book in Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices trilogy. It is set in a Victorian-era London versus the metallic background of New York in the Mortal Instruments series. When I first started reading this book, I couldn't imagine that I could possibly love it as much as the Mortal Instruments series. I was wrong within the first couple of chapters. I love the backdrop of Victorian London and the descriptive language Ms. Clare uses to create the setting for me. In my mind's eye, this book played out very well as a movie, just as the Mortal Instruments books.

Similarly to her other series, there are a wide range of character types in this novel, and they are all wonderful. There is a love triangle, to which I could not help but become extremely emotionally attached. The villains were extra bad, it seemed, but I am not sure if this is due to Ms. Clare's character development or the setting of the book (non-present day villains often seem much more sinister to me somehow). And the twist in the plot toward the end of the book...good grief! I am usually pretty good at figuring things out early, and even I did not see this one coming. It was so exciting for me...

The use of the automatons by the bad guys to assist in their evil plots was super fun. It was wonderfully steampunk-y, and I loved that about this book. The automatons, or robots, were very carefully described and detailed in the literature, and I feel like I could almost draw one if I had a pencil and sheet of paper. If there are readers who are unfamiliar to the steampunk genre or the heavy use of the word "automaton" in the story (Hey! It's possible!), Ms. Clare does a great job with her imagery and explanations so the reader should not feel lost.

I have read in several interviews where Ms. Clare has mentioned that it does not matter which series you read first, Infernal Devices or Mortal Instruments. Clockwork Angel is indeed set approximately 100-200 years before the Mortal Instruments series is set, but readers will enjoy that they recognize some of the names in both books (like Wayland, Lightwood, and Magnus Bane). I agree with Ms. Clare that it should not matter the order in which you choose to read these books. For myself, I decided to read them in the order that they were written, and this has been fun for me. And, if you are familiar with Ms. Clare's books, you know that means I have only one left until the next installment is released months and months and months from now...

I recommend these books to anyone who loves young adult fiction. There are paranormal themes involved, so if you do not enjoy those, this book is not for you. For me, it is *painful* that I will have to wait so long until the next book is released. Ms. Clare does appear to enjoy a plot twist and a cliffhanger, and that is exactly what we get in this book. So frustrating and so satisfying all at the same time...

"Waiting On" Wednesday #2

"Waiting On" Wednesday

 

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine that gives us a chance to highlight upcoming releases that we are drooling over...

My choice for this week is:

The Girl in the Steel Corset

by Kady Cross

release date: May 24, 2011

She thought there was something wrong with her. She was right.

Finley Jayne has known for quite some time that she isn’t ‘normal,’ but when she beats up the son of her employer and is forced to flee, she stumbles into a world where there are bigger freaks than her. They take her in, treat her like family and demand her trust. How can Finley trust them when she can’t trust herself? And why is she drawn to the powerful Griffin as well as the dangerous Jack? She has to get herself under control before she gets into trouble she can’t get out of.

Griffin King is one of the most powerful men in Britain but he couldn’t save his best friend from almost dying. He is determined to save Finley and help her become the person he knows she can be, but there’s evil afoot in London. Machines have attacked humans under the orders of a nefarious criminal called The Machinist. He has sworn to protect his country against such a threat, but he’s never faced any foe like this. However, when he discovers The Machinist’s connection to his past, Griffin vows to end the villain once and for all — but he’ll need the help of all his friends, including the beautiful Finley Jayne – the girl in the steel corset.

-book summary from the author's website

I am just coming off of reading Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, which is another steampunk book. This book is book one of the Steampunk Chronicles. In both books there are big, Victorian dresses, automatons, butt-kicking girls, and bad guys. It just seems like the right thing to do to stay within the genre be really excited about it!

Teaser Tuesday #2

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. Anybody can play along! Here's how:

• Grab what you are reading...
• Open to a random page.
• Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
• Share the title of the book and the author so other readers can add the book to their TBR pile if they like your teasers.

This Week's Teasers:

"He could not accept that she was an insane mass murderer. Salander never did anything against her will or without thinking through the consequences." 

~ page 245, The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

The Friday Five #2.5

It's Children's Book Week!

I started my own Friday Five because there are lots of bookish things I like to talk about besides what I'm reading right now. This is the second part to yesterday's post.

I know I am an adult, but inside I am really a great big child. And I have always loved the books I read when I was a kid. The books that were wonderful to me as a child are so much better this go around, as I read them with my children. 

In honor of Children's Book Week, I want to talk about some of my favorite children's book characters. There are a million and I cannot talk about them all. But here are a few of my favorites:

The Friday Five:

Favorite Boy Characters

1. Harold - Who doesn't like to think we make our own life experiences? What a fun concept! This little boy literally draws his own experiences. Harold is a young boy who runs around all the time with a purple crayon in his hand. Whatever he wants to do, he makes happen with that crayon. For example, if he wants to ride a horse but doesn't have a horse, he draws one with his crayon. He draws his adventures. He draws his friends. He even draws his bed when he gets sleepy. 

2. Max - Max is a super cool young boy who has a great imagination. He wore a costume. He was crowned "king of all wild things" when he ventured into a make-believe world filled with monsters and wild things after being sent to bed for punishment one evening. Max ruled the wild things well; they loved him. He conquered them bravely even though they were scary. He danced with them and went on adventures. Eventually, though, he got hungry and lonely, so he went back to his real world where his mother made him dinner.

3. Charlie Bucket - Charlie Bucket is the young boy that wins the final ticket into Willy Wonka's wonderful Chocolate Factory. He, along with four other children, are allowed to take a tour of the factory. The four other children are all disobedient and punished in various, dark ways in the factory. This leaves Charlie to win the elusive prize promised by Mr. Wonka. The prize ends up being the chocolate factory itself!

I read Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory so many times as a child, and I identified so strongly with Charlie's character, even in my childhood. I thought he was such a strong protagonist - so believable as a young boy that loved his family so deeply that he would do anything for them, but also a child that dreamed so deeply that he just might be one of the winners of the five golden tickets. Roald Dahl did a great job making this character so believable, and it made him one of my favorite book characters ever.

4. Little Critter - I love this little guy! What exactly is Little Critter? I don't really know. He kind of looks like a little hamster. Some of his friends are discernable animals and some are also critter-ish, but this is beside the point. This little guy is one of the cutest things I've ever seen. He always seems to get himself in trouble but he means well. He tries to do nice things for his mom and his dad, but he ends up making huge messes or breaking things. He finds his sister annoying, but deep down he really has a soft spot for her and he loves her a lot. He tells us about his grandparents. He tells us about his pets. He tells us about the dentist. He tells us about camp and going to school. Little Critter is just fantastic.

5. Peter Warren Hatcher - Peter Warren Hatcher is a character from Judy Blume's wonderful book Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, which is a first-person account of the relationship between Peter and his brother Fudge. Peter also talks about some of his friends, his parents, his teacher, and his pet turtle. Peter talks about how nothing goes right because Fudge always messes everything up. He talks about how he feels like his parents love Fudge more. He talks about regular stuff that kids his age feel and do. This book is so fantastic, and Peter Warren Hatcher is a perfect example of a boy of this age. He is just wonderful. I think I knew a bunch of kids just like him when I was in fourth grade.

The Friday Five #2

I started my own Friday Five because there are lots of bookish things I like to talk about besides what I'm reading right now.

It's Children's Book Week!

I know I am an adult, but inside I am really a great big child. And I have always loved the books I read when I was a kid. The books that were wonderful to me as a child are so much better this go around, as I read them with my children. 

In honor of Children's Book Week, I want to talk about some of my favorite children's book characters. There are a million and I cannot talk about them all. But here are a few of my favorites:

The Friday Five:

Favorite Girl Characters

1. Matilda Wormwood - Matilda Wormwood is the smartest kindergartener ever. Well, maybe one of the smartest. She learned to read when she was only three years old and looked up the address to the library herself so she could go there and read books. She finished the childrens books quickly and, noticing her smarts and taking pity on her, the librarian gave her a library card so she could take books home. I loved Matilda when I read about her because she loved to read as much as I did. And I could relate to having a parent who told me I read too much. Matilda also has superpowers or, well, at least special powers.

I loved Matilda from the moment I met her, and I met her the instant I saw her sitting in the Roald Dahl section of my library as a young person. She is precious and smart and fiesty. The movie adaptation of this novel is swell, although it isn't entirely true to the book. Still, Matilda is one of my favorite girl characters in childrens literature.

2. Pippi Longstocking - Also known as Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraim's Daughter Longstocking, Pippi Longstocking is just a mischievous kid who does not want to grow up. Just like me. She also has unruly hair, just like me. However she has super human strength, and I do not have this. The things I remember most about her are that she can lift a horse with one hand and that she likes to trick adults. I remember that I watched a movie about Pippi first, which made me want to read the books. Throughout my life, it has almost always been the opposite.

3. Laura Ingalls - Everyone loves Laura, right? I cannot even remember how many times I read the Little House on the Prairie series as a child. When Nellie was mean to her, it used to make me so mad that I wanted to reach into the pages of the book and pull her hair. When Mary got sick and became blind, I think I cried too. And when Laura would tell about Pa playing his fiddle and Ma making her maple-syrup candy, I wanted to be there to dance and eat. Thinking about all of this makes me want to read these books again. Maybe I can convince my girls to read along with me this time.

4. Anne Shirley - Oh poor, dramatic, red-headed orphan child Anne Shirley! Such a wonderful child. Trouble seemed to follow her and she never had anything but good intentions. How can you not love this poor girl that came to Matthew and Marilla as a mistake when they really requested to adopt a boy?!?! Poor kid! The Anne of Green Gables books were absolutely some of my favorite from my younger years, and still to this day. I read these side-by-side with my sweet grandmother when I was younger, and then we watched the movies together. Anne Shirley had some of the best one-liners that I still use from time to time. And I don't know that I have ever cheered harder for someone to fall in love with someone else than I did for her to finally fall for Gilbert. Good gracious, I think I'm going to have to read these again too. My TBR list is growing longer by the minute.

5. Ramona Geraldine Quimby - Ramona is my all time favorite childrens book character. She is the funnest, most awkward, greatest kid in any book, anywhere. She got her start as a minor character in the novel Henry Huggins as the sister of Beatrice, also known as Beezus. She then was in the novel Beezus and Ramona, and from there she was in novels of her own. Lots of them. And I read every one of them multiple times. And am still reading them. She is so great.

Ramona has an imagination like I could only dream of having. She has dreams that are amazing and sometimes they get her in trouble. Lots of times things make a lot of sense to Ramona but not much sense to the people around her, so people laugh at her or yell at her and it makes her embarrassed. She feels largely misunderstood. My favorite thing about Ramona is that she has a doll named Chevrolet. I remember that she said Chevrolet is the most beautiful name in the entire world and she doesn't understand why people laugh at that.

The recent movie, Ramona and Beezus, was stunning. Brilliant. There is no way, of course, to adequately portray a character as perfectly as a book can, but this movie was very, very close. Ramona takes the cake as my favorite all-time childrens book character. There are lots of good ones, but she is my favorite by far. By the way, Beverly Cleary is a genius.