All posts in: books

book awards
17 Sep 2013

2013 National Book Awards

Happy National Book Award week!

I am always excited for the NBA’s as they mark the official start of AWARDS SEASON! National Book. End of Year Book Lists. Alex & William C. Morris, then the rest of the ALA Youth Media Awards. Cybils. Throw the Oscars in there too. It’s a happy time of year for this nerd.

This year, the National Book Awards are embarking on an Excitement EXCITEMENT campaign, perhaps to lure in the interest of the less nerdy. Longer long lists, staggered announcements, and I’m sure something goofy with the award announcements on November 20th, too. Come on, normal people, get hyped about books.

 

It is no surprise whatsoever that I have read zero of these titles. Unless Clash of Kings is going to get some kind of retroactive nomination (in the young people’s lit category??) then the odds were really against me anyway. I am, however, really pleased with the line-up. The Atlantic posted some laughable excuse for journalism yesterday in which they took a repeated claim – that the National Book Awards favors obscure authors and titles – and applied it to this set of books, thus revealing that nobody on the god damn Atlantic staff has read a book for kids since Hop on Pop. This list is a star-studded kidlit smorgasborg.

First, we have Kathi Appelt with The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp. Poor little unknown Appelt…. who earned an NBA nod not five years ago with her completely smashing middle grade novel The Underneath. I was just thinking about The Underneath, actually, and how much I loved it. It’s about a dog and a mess of cats living under a porch in the swamps of Louisiana, for goodness sake, and if the interwoven mythology and natural mysticism doesn’t get you, the language will knock you flat out. I have high hopes for Appelt’s bayou follow-up.

Kate DiCamillo is another middle grade hard-hitter I’m happy to see honored. I’ve had an ARC of Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures in my desk for months. I also may or may not use a Flora & Ulysses tote bag to carry around my groceries. You’ll have to haunt my neighborhood Shaw’s to confirm. Also, Candlewick! Yay, rah! Long live the independent press and Boston-based kid lit!

Did any of you get around to reading Anne Ursu’s Breadcrumbs? I loved it, but it didn’t win any dang awards whatsoever. Awful. I was glad to see her latest fairytale remix – The Real Boy – getting some attention. Also, glad she teamed up with Erin McGuire again this year for illustrations – love both of her covers.

I feel like the Young People’s Literature category typically swings more towards young adult than middle grade (or picturebook, for that matter), so it was nice to see so many younger reads getting honored on this year’s shortlist. I haven’t heard much about Lisa Graff’s A Tangle of Knots or Cindy Kadohata’s The Thing About Luck, but they both look like middle grade I would like.

And then the YA contingent. Picture Me Gone – the latest from Printz-winner Meg Rosoff. Two Boys Kissing – the latest from bestselling David Levithan. Boxers & Saints – the long-awaited latest from Printz-winner (and bad-ass amazing dork) Gene Luen Yang. Man, look at all these obscure authors! Even Tom McNeal’s Far Far Away has earned a few starred reviews. I feel like the darkest horse in the bunch is Alaya Dawn Johnson’s The Summer Prince, and, strangely, the one title I want to read the most. Especially because Favorite Roommate alerted me to one of those scathing, gif-ridden Goodreads reviews. When an award-winning book gets bad consumer-reviews my interest is piqued.

Also see: Jessica’s Descent into Fantasy Madness.

Also see: I’m not going to have time to read any of these because Cybils.

assorted media
12 Sep 2013

The Spectacular Now

Two weekends ago, my sister came to visit me and we couldn’t decide on anything Boston-y that we should do. I even asked her if she wanted any food-stuffs that you can only get in the big city and she said “no, I’m on a migraine medication that kills my appetite so I don’t really eat.”

So I thought we could see a Sister Movie, as this particular sister and I have a very long track record of watching movies together. Our parents dropped us off at the theater to see Titanic in 1997. We saw Slumdog Millionaire together on Valentine’s Day – my sister sang me a love song while we waited in the concession line, but refused to share a Diet Coke.

We went to see The Spectacular Now, because the only movies ever pay money for are adaptations of children’s and YA books. Apparently. I read Tim Tharp’s The Spectacular Now just after starting my old blog, actually. I had just decided to start reading like a crazy person all the time, and The Spectacular Now caught my eye from the National Book Award shortlist.

I think I would like to read it again. The movie felt like a boiled down teen love story with a complicated, fairly unlikeable protagonist. I remember there being something more going on in the book, some more depth to Sutter’s world view. I liked the movie, though, for what it was, although I will admit to a major distraction:

Shailene Woodley in this movie looked fairly exactly like our youngest sister.

Tall, long of limb, always wearing her hair in a messy top-knot, freckles, little cute nose, long dark hair… it was fairly uncanny. And also, Shailene’s character, Aimee, was pretty much the same character as my sister. Quiet. Under the radar. Super smart. Beautiful. And into sci-fi. There’s a scene when Sutter comes into Aimee’s bedroom for the first time and it was pretty much my little sister’s bedroom, all animals and posters and twinkle lights. You know, the bedroom with the fairytale night stand? Yeah. That sister.

The association became rather distracting because I was basically watching a movie where my youngest sister falls in love with a slick alcoholic who will probably break her heart. Also, there’s a sex scene. Also also, that bedroom scene just screamed Manic Pixie Dreamgirl…  And then my mind started whirring – is my sister going to be someone’s MPDG? She did just start college – will she bring someone back to her dorm room and they will fall head over heels for her adorable posters and tchotchkes and vast knowledge of Pokemon? Do MPDGs actually occur in real life or are they persistent fictional female constructs?

I don’t think Movie Aimee is particular MPDG-y, and Book Aimee even less. In fact, I think part of what is interesting about The Spectacular Now is just how average Aimee is, and how Sutter has to learn how not to change her to his whims and also treat her life and interests with respect – even if she’s falling in love too fast, and even if Sutter can’t manage to treat his own life with respect.

It was also interesting to see the differences between how the book and the movie portray Sutter’s personal vices. The book is first person from Sutter’s POV, the whole story filtered through Sutter’s over-the-top perspective. Sutter’s voice is funny and brash and so well done, but Tharp definitely uses the strong voice to his narrative advantage, using it to distract the reader from how much Sutter is drinking, how many dangerous decisions he is making, and also the whole plotline about his father. On the screen, we watch Sutter sipping from his flask almost constantly – it sinks in much more quickly how damaged this boy is and how much progress he needs to make. I think the movie is sadder to watch than the book was to read.

Anyway, I would recommend seeing this film if for no other reason than to promote films based on YA books that are not big budget dystopian trilogies that end up flopping, discouraging movie producers and American film-goers from investing in anything Teen. I think I will give the book a re-read, or maybe try Mojo, which I unearthed from the bottom of my Drawer of Shame yesterday.

Also, if you would like to read a more movie-ly review of this film, please direct yourself to my dear friend’s blog, The Daley Screening. He is watching a movie every day for a year, in a panic celebration of turning 30 earlier this year, and blogging about it. It’s a pretty impressive task to behold. Also, he talks a lot more about booze in his review than I do, if you like that sort of thing. Which I do, but I like books more.

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books
11 Sep 2013

library card exhibitionist

Please admire my new recently acquired sense of restraint. This is the world’s shortest list of check-outs! And you will notice that many of my holds are actually movies! And cookbooks! Those really don’t count, you know.

Anyone placing bets on how long this moderation will last? A week? Two weeks? I’ve never been known to hang onto reasonable behavior for very long.

 

Checked Out

The Sprouted Kitchen by Sara Forte

The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

Spring Breakers

168 Hours by Laura Vanderkam (still working on this one…)

Five Summers by Una LaMarche

Rush by Maya Banks

The Make Good Art Speech by Neil Gaiman

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DiSclafani

On Writing by Stephen King

The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown

 

 

On Hold

The Boy on the Bridge by Natalie Standiford

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

Just One Day by Gayle Forman

The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle

Somebody Up There Hates You by Hollis Seamon

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

Well Fed 2: More Paleo Recipes for People Who Love to Eat by Melissa Joulwan

The Kings of Summer

A Storm of Swords (audio) by George R. R. Martin (shut. up.)

Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You (the movie!)

The Bling Ring

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

Before Sunrise

Game of Thrones Season Two (shut up again!! I just want to watch the extras…)

This is the End

 

 

 

books
10 Sep 2013

what to read now that i read again

Hey guys, I remembered how to read!

I’m anxious to keep the ball rolling, but I also had a minor league revelation last week. Okay, it’s a less than minor league revelation. I decided that I need to cut the bullshit and read more YA. Back to my roots. Stop reading shiny adult fiction just because it’s Shiny and New and In Front of You. I returned every non-YA book in my drawer of shame, cancelled all my non-YA holds. Amazingly liberating.  You guys all think I’m crazy, right?

However, now that I am reading more than one book a fortnight, it seems that ah… I’ve nothing much left to read.

In fact, here are my only next-read options, assuming I am avoiding my own bookshelves for the time being.

(No, I don’t need to read The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks for the 700th time…)

(Or do I…)

This season there were so many juicy summer camp books being published. The Interestings. The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls. Both of those got sent back to the library during the Great Adult Fic Purge of 2013. The only summer camp book that survived is Una LaMarche’s Five Summers. I started reading this a few weeks ago while I ate my lunch at work – a common way I “audition” books without the commitment of carrying them all the way home – and it obviously didn’t hook me in terribly hard, otherwise I would still be reading it. But the point of being a Wide and Dedicated Reader isn’t just to read what hooks you, guys. Hate to break it to you. You have to have a certain stick-to-it-iveness. Readerly fortitude. Not every book holds its value in the first thirty pages, not every book lures you to read on with an irresistible pull.

I am saying this as if a mostly un-accoladed YA book about summer camp is a book packed dense with secret value. It probably isn’t. I should shut up… and read Natalie Standiford’s The Boy on the Bridge instead? My Favorite Roommate – otherwise known as The Best New Librarian in the State of Missouri – saw that I added this to my Goodreads queue and replied “DID YOU GET SUCKERED IN BY ALL THOSE BANNER ADS, TOO?” Except she didn’t do it in all caps, because she’s polite. You don’t become the Best New Librarian in the State of Missouri using all caps. Anyway, this book? Plastered all over Goodreads for a few days. Natalie Standiford is an author which I think I should like a lot, but I can never get around to actually reading one of her books. See also: A. S. King, Margo Lanagan, thislistcouldgoonindefinitely. This one is about studying abroad in the 80s and falling in love with a Russian.

Or, I could read this new Matthew Quick which is waiting for me on my hold shelf, Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock. This book is getting a decent amount of post-Silver Linings Playbook buzz. I like supporting YA authors who get mainstream buzz, even if I’m not a super-fan or anything. I’m a reasonable fan of Quick, not a super-fan. I also say “supporting YA authors” like I am buying books. I’m not. I should be. I know. But. I can’t. Isn’t it enough that I facilitated the purchasing of 11 copies using a municipal pool of money for my fellow citizens and I to share? I think so. Oh, and also reading it so I can potentially tell others to read it or blog about it or what have you. This is my contribution to the world, guys. This right here.

You could also lump Gayle Forman into that Paragraph #2 group of authors, except that I actually did read If I Stay. I liked it alright. Never read the sequel, and never read her new “series” – Just One Day. Another book about studying abroad and falling in love. Apparently this is what I’m into right now? Anyway, the sequel is coming out next month, which reminds me of how delinquent I am at reading anything in a timely fashion. Which is kind of the moral of this post. Which is why I’m going to stop writing it and read a motherf%^#ing book.

 

 

 

book reviews
09 Sep 2013

Winger by Andrew Smith

I have been thinking a lot about realism lately. This might surprise some of you who may have caught onto the fact that I am currently going through a strange and intense fantasy fixation. But I suppose when you start thinking about one side of a coin it’s easy to flip, to start thinking about the other. Or when Jessica starts thinking about genre she can’t stop thinking about genre.

I studied realism – specifically contemporary realism for young adults – for a semester in grad school. The biggest takeaway? Realism is a complex literary genre filled with just as many structural and content-based expectations as the highest of fantasies. Also, realism does not equal reality. Also, also, can anyone even try to define the term “reality?” Go ahead and try. I’ll wait.

I’m not going to try to mash in a semester of hard study into this blog post, but Andrew Smith’s Winger reminded me of what I love so dearly about realism.

It’s the characters – Ryan Dean West, a fourteen-year-old junior at a boarding school who can’t quite fit in, who is in love with his brilliant, lovely best friend, Annie, who is awash with hormones and aggression and man-feelings. Life is constantly shooting him down for reasons that don’t make any sense. He’s adorable. Don’t tell him I said that.

It’s the settings – the intimate details of the places your protagonist lives that let you feel like you live there too. You could not have paid me to attend a boarding school as a child, but good boarding school books, like Winger, bring a school’s culture and landscape to life in such detail that I wish I had wanted to go.

It’s the voice – the language, rhythm, humor, cadence that bridges the gap between the character and his place, that not only shows you what life looks like for Ryan Dean but what it feels like to live his life.

It’s the way the plot doesn’t really exist – nothing really happens beyond Ryan Dean going to his classes and interacting with his friends and rugby teammates and trying to get into Annie’s pants. That’s not really a plot. But when the voice is good, the characters good, the place is good, then 100 pages go by, 200 pages, and I don’t notice the nothingness of the plot, and I definitely don’t care.

But when the author finally decides to drop down some major plot-points… well, my world is completely rocked and I’m horrified that the book has to end, that I won’t get to see Ryan Dean West through to the rest of his life. Just horrified.

Yeah, I really liked this book. Highly recommend.

book lists
07 Sep 2013

reading wishlist: fall 2013 ya

Staying ahead of the game in the YA world is a bit of a losing endeavor, for me anyway. There’s just so much of it, so much hype to sift through. Also, I don’t like reading galleys on my eReader as much as I should. Also, I’m picky. Also, I’m easily distracted by shiny adult books and re-reading my favorite old books and shiny objects. Like my kitchen. My shiny new kitchen. Who needs books when you’ve got a shiny new kitchen?

But I do digress. Here are some new YA books that have caught my eye – perhaps I will read one standing up in my shiny kitchen.  While stirring a risotto. Or something else not so pretentious and annoying.

The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

Let’s get the easy one out of the way. A new Laurie Halse Anderson is always worth noting. Especially her YA realism. I mean, her historical middle grade is good, too, but come on. Speak? Catalyst? Wintergirls? That’s where the goods are. I kind of want to re-read all three just after listing them here. See how easily distracted I am? This one doesn’t come out until January, though, so I have plenty of time.

Cherry Money Baby by John M. Cusick

Cusick’s first novel, Girl Parts, wasn’t too bad. But if I could choose between reading a book that features robot girls created to please teenaged boys and books that don’t feature robot girls, I will choose the latter. Cherry Money Baby sounds like a fun, robot-free romp with a fun Hollywood twist.

The Truth That’s In Me by Julie Berry

Creepy historical fiction about a mutilated girl and a semi-religious cult. Yes please. However, I am bothered by the cover. That girl just doesn’t look historical whatsoever. I don’t even know which era this book is supposed to be set, but unless the era is 2001 then I don’t buy it. Unless 2001 is considered historical fiction now, in which case heaven help us all.

Living with Jackie Chan by Jo Knowles

Four years ago, I read Knowles’s Jumping Off Swings, and I really did enjoy it. In fact, it made it to my top ten reads of 2009! This is a companion novel, a spin-off even, following one character from JoS – the teen dad, who was probably my favorite character of the bunch. Probably everybody’s – he was just so… misunderstood. Confused. Bereft. And now he gets his own book. I’m digging it.

Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Dollock

Look. I wanted to read this book. It got some good reviews. It’s got a decent cover. But I am not quite sure I can read another YA book about a girl whose crazy mom steals her away and they live a life on the road. I’m just done. For a moment. There is officially a book on this list that I don’t want to read.

More Than This by Patrick Ness

I spent a bit of time living with a Patrick Ness-aholic. As in she bought British editions from Amazon.uk before they were released in the US, and went into a very short-term depression when she found out he was gay. I tried to read The Knife of Never Letting Go, but at that point I was so over dystopias and couldn’t handle it. Maybe in five or six years my anti-dystopi-osity will fade and I can try again.

Nevertheless, there’s a new Patrick Ness coming out this fall. I’m sure it will be a little weirder than realism, but probably not a full-blown dystopia. I also had the good fortune to hear the first chapter read aloud a few months back and I was considerably hooked. AND, I have an ARC! A paper ARC! All signs point toward me reading this book while stirring risotto.

The Promise of Amazing by Robin Constantine

Obligatory cheesy romance. Still on a never-ending search for authors who do romance the way I like it. That sentence sounded pretty creepy.

Somebody Up There Hates You by Hollis Seamon

While in grad school, I spent a summer interning at an independent publishing house. Ever since then, I’ve had a bit of a soft spot for independent presses – they get a little more editorial freedom, get to take risks, and get to build a personal “brand” a little more readily than other houses. I was super excited to see that Algonquin was launching a YA imprint, and this was the title that caught my eye. It’s a really sad book about dying teenagers! Just like some other book I’ve heard of, can’t remember the title. Anyway, independent presses = cool. Dying teenagers = not cool. I don’t know. This list has gone off the rails. Goodnight and good luck, guys. Read a book.

 

books
21 Aug 2013

currently reading

Sometimes, when I am out of my reading groove, I start reading far too many books at once without finishing any of them right away.

It’s counterproductive. It’s confusing. It’s overcompensation. It’s where I’m at.

Roomies, by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando. I was excited to read this! A dear coworker gave me her ARC from her trip to BEA! The stars were aligned!

But I am still only halfway through. I can’t tell if it’s just my mood or if I am completely over two authors writing alternate viewpoints. I can only think of a few books where I thought this back and forth added to the book in any significant way… not that dual authors necessarily ruin a good story, but I just think it’s probably more fun for the authors than it is for the reader. I might DNF this one. I don’t know.

Speaking of books I have been reading forever…. Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor. I really adored Daughter of Smoke and Bone (and gushed about it here) but I just don’t know why I can’t make it through the sequel. I did read Smoke and Bone in paper and am trying to listen to this one on audio. Maybe that is a mistake. Maybe I need to read it more slowly so I can keep all the non-human characters with fantasy names straight. Maybe because I keep cheating on this audio book with other audio books, and you know, I just can’t juggle like I can with print books.

I started reading Aria Beth Sloss’s Autobiography of Us a few weeks ago on the pretense that I should just pick up a new book, start reading, and if the story draws me in then I should just read it. To hell with all the other unfinished books in my life. So far, this is one of those stories about two female friends, one of whom is the alpha friend who is kind of a jerk, and the other is the protagonist who can’t decide if she hates her friend or will be forever entranced by her charisma. Oh, and it’s a period piece. I’ve read this kind of story before, but I like this kind of story. I’m not sure I think the protagonist is actually enough of a protagonist for me yet – she’s like a little caricature of a good 1960s coed. Any time she actually makes a decision, it’s strange, like she’s not really allowed to do anything except muse silently about her angsty friendship. But I’m only a hundred pages in or so, so a lot could happen, I suppose.

All of my children’s lit friends read this one at once and I was jealous. So when I wanted to start reading some more current YA Andrew W. Smith’s Winger – a new boarding school book – was my first stop. I will probably pick this one up next, once I finish my other High Priority Books. Unless, of course, new high priority books show up in the meantime. My life.

High Priority Book #1: Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In, a book with a hold list a mile long. It’s due on Thursday, so I should finish it up. This is the kind of career book that speaks to my anxious soul – simple advice for professional growth that gets you big results in the long run.  You men should read it, too.

Although I am a little skeptical about the chapter I read this morning, about forging an equal partnership with your spouse. The chapter’s thesis: “share the household responsibilities.” The chapter’s suggestion for how to achieve such domestic nirvana: “don’t nag, don’t ask, don’t expect, don’t assume.” Oh, I’m sure it didn’t actually SAY that in the book, but that was the message I got. Give me some better advice, Sandberg! I desperately need to convince a certain somebody that “sweeping” and “toilet scrubbing” are necessary activities that I don’t plan on doing exclusively for the rest of time and eternity.

High Priority Book #2: Vikki Wakefield’s Friday Never Leaving. Sometimes, when you need to review a book, you need to actually finish reading said book. Actually, all the time. All the time you need to finish said book.

This one is a piece of Australian realism about a girl with a dead mother and a curse who moves in with a bunch of homeless teenage grifters. There are supernatural overtones. It’s pretty creepy. I am about 25 pages from the end and just need to get it done with.

Okay, I know. I know what you are thinking. You are thinking I am crazy. Well, yes. Yes, I am. I have no legitimate excuses for this one, except that I was putting the audiobook on my computer so I could share it with the man in my life, and I… just started listening. And that is why I can’t listen to poor Days of Blood and Starlight – because I stopped to listen to all 28 discs of A Game of Thrones, and then I’m just going to listen to them all AGAIN. I am a sick individual.

books
05 Aug 2013

to everything

I’ve only read three books since July 1.

This is unusual, unlike me, a signofthestressthatiamundergoingyouguysican’tevenreadabookomgomg.

I’m trying to trick myself back into the reading groove.

I checked out an easy-to-read-nonfiction book that is also a hot-buzz-everyone’s-reading-it title.

I reminded myself that, oh yes, sometimes I get paid to write reviews so I should you know, read those books I need to review.

I ignored my well-wishing and read some more of The Kingdom of Little Wounds because it reminds me a little of GoT.

Okay, fine. I even downloaded Clash of Kings onto my iPhone so I can listen to it before bed. What of it?

None of my self-trickery is working particularly well. The number of things I would rather do than read is unusually vast. Rearrange my bookshelves. Unload my dishwasher. Play Candy Crush (oof). Watch another episode of Orange is the New Black. Shower.

Trying to go easy on myself. My life did just go through a bit of a seismic shift. My attention span is untrained. My energy levels are uneven.

And I just moved. I moved when I was 6, 13, 18, 22, 24, 25, 27 and 28. I know moving. It’s a pain in the butt, it costs a lot of money, unexpected bad things happen. But the whole Packing Up The Physical Manifestation of Your Existence puts you face to face with parts of your life that you’d rather not face. Procrastinator Jessica who hoards crafting supplies for years without using them. Pretentious Jessica who keeps fancy books on the shelf she knows she’ll never read. Clutter-prone Jessica who can’t throw away useless, ugly little trinkets because she’s had them since she moved when she was 6.

Unpacking, I found the physical manifestation of two years of my reading. Two sheets of paper folded into fourths, marking what books I read in what month.

In August 2011, I read 4 books: one was a Sarah Dessen re-read, three were Harry Potter.

In July 2012, I read 6, including New Moon, a graphic novel, and Fifty Shades of Gray.

I’m a slow summer reader with a tendency toward fluff.

Go easy on me.

(… said me, to myself)

 

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adventures
17 Jul 2013

reading in roma

Hello there!

I am now a married lady. So that is a thing. More on that when I admit that it happened and it wasn’t just a crazy, hazy dream.

I am also on vacation, which is a thing I haven’t experienced in quite some time. Our little jaunt to Chicago felt a bit like a vacay, but technically I was there on business. Vacation, I think is, is a time when you do not have to go to work for a predetermined period of time and your only job is to engage in leisure pursuits. Bonus points if you are getting paid via “vacation hours.” It doesn’t quite count if you are going home to Michigan to stay with your family, especially if you have to plan a wedding while you are there.

My life has been void of such an experience for a number of years, so… yes, vacation.

But did I also mention that I haven’t been able to read for a few weeks now? It’s been bad, friends. All this talk of plane reading, ALA ARCs, summer reading lists? All for naught. This Summer of Nonsense has rolled me over and my attention span is the primary casualty. I couldn’t follow podcasts or audiobooks or watch movies. I couldn’t read anything that isn’t Clash of Kings on my iPhone.

It’s too soon to tell if I am completely cured, but I am on vacation, you guys. And my hotel has a roof terrace. So this is what I am up to.

This particular beautifully illustrated galley is Susann Cokal’s The Kingdom of Little Wounds, which, twenty pages in is just as dark and Game-of-Thronesy as I’d hoped it would be. But really, I wish I had brought a hundred books about Rome. This city is ridiculous, and I just want to know e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. about it.

And now, back to the honeymoon.

!

!!!

 

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book lists
04 Jul 2013

second quarter stars

The second quarter of 2013 has come to an end. Half over. Or, if you are optimistic, still six good months to come! I can’t tell you which side I am on because I AM GETTING MARRIED IN SEVEN DAYS. I CANNOT EVEN FORM A COHERENT THOUGHT MUCH LESS A SENTENCE. I am also having trouble focusing on reading. Or packing. Or cleaning. Or anything.

I am assuming that once this is all over, I will regain control of my mental facilities and be ready to read another 50+ books. Fifty books! That’s so many! I could read fifty more FIVE STAR AWESOME books. I could re-read my favorites for six straight months! I could read only new releases, only award winners, or just read whatever I happen to want to read on any given day! I could just read the entire Songs of Fire and Ice series! (Let’s be honest, that is probably what I will do)

I’m sure some people feel this way about new recipes or restaurants, movies, vacations, video games. But there is just something special about being a reader, isn’t there? You get to have your life, the same everyday living that everyone gets, but then you have another life. A reading life. All yours to choose, story after story after story.

Lovely.

Here are the books I read in April, May, and June.

FIVE! STARS!

*****

Five star books rock my world, enter my personal canon, change my life. Likely re-reads for the duration of my existence. Flash bang. Excitement. Yay. Rah.

 

FOUR STARS!

****

Four star books are definitely excellent. Above Average. These are the books I will recommend to others without hesitation.

Three Stars

***

Three star books are alright. Good. Middle of the road. Nothing special, but nothing worth throwing the book against the window either.

Two stars

**

Two star books have issues. Writing or content. Books that make me roll my eyes and sad for the state of literature

one star

*

One star books make me say “HOW DID THIS BOOK COME TO BE?? WHY, GOD, WHY??”