Bookish Thoughts

I got this book as a free download from Tor.com, which is the only reason I decided to read it. I did enjoy the other Charlie Jane Anders book I read, All the Birds in the Sky . And I guess I was expecting more of the same. But that was a subtle story that took me by surprise. And this....wasn't. It's not that it was bad. I'm just not really the target audience for this book. I'm not much interested in young adult books. But it was free and on my kindle and I figured it'd be a quick read. The fact that it took me over two weeks to read this YA novel with less than 300 pages tells you something about how invested I was in it. It actually started pretty strong, with a fun premise, interesting and sarcastic characters, and a plot that kicked into high gear almost immediately. But then the middle of the book got muddled. Parts of it felt more like an outline than a novel, as the story jumped from scene to scene with very little transition, which kept me off balance and ...

This book is exactly what people mean by the phrase "wild romp". It's vaguely historical fiction, veering off into fantasy in a number of ways. It muddies the waters between what probably happened and what might have happened and what absolutely did not happen. But it's entertaining, even when it goes off the rails. The main character, Monty, is a complete disaster. As most eighteen year olds are. He's lived a life mixed with privilege and punishment. On the surface he has everything he wants. But scratch that surface and he can't have anything he actually wants. And he mostly deals with that by trying not to think too hard about what he wants. And drinking way too much. Like I said, he's a disaster. And he spends most of the book as a disaster. But by the end he's starting to figure some things out, starting to realize that he needs to change and how and why he needs to change. I was by turns exasperated and charmed by Monty and his sister, Felicity, ...

The third book in The Raven Cycle continues the adventures of Blue, Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah as they circle ever closer to finding Glendower. But things are growing ever more complicated with Blue's mother missing, Mr. Grey's old employer coming to town, and school starting back up. This is really an excellent coming of age story, as these kids learn about their powers, develop them further, and also think hard about what they want from life. I think this is why I've gotten so attached to them. Their growth is so hard and realistic. And Stiefvater's excellent prose certainly helps. There's only one book left, and I'm honestly so scared. Predictions made in the first book are about to come to fruition, and I'm not sure I'm ready. But I still hope it all ends happily.

I waited too long between books and forgot some key stuff from the end of the last one, but this one sucked me right in again. The quest to find the lost king is on the back burner in this book as the boys deal with more immediate problems. They're also navigating their growing pains and shifting relationships, some with more success than others. This book mostly focuses on Ronan, so it's no real surprise that I ended up loving him so much more by the end of it. He makes a lot more sense now, and he also seems to be pulling out of his tailspin which is good. But then there's Adam, who is basically in free fall at this point. Some of the ending of the series is telegraphed from the first few pages. But even knowing where all this is heading, I can't help but hope for a happy ending. These kids deserve it. In the meantime, this series is putting my heart through the ringer. In a good way.

This was a very cute story about growing up and being brave and not missing your chance. Deja and Josiah are best friends who've been working at the local pumpkin patch for the last three years. But now they're seniors and it's the last night, and Josiah still hasn't even spoken to the girl he's been crushing on for the last three years. Deja is determined to make him take his chance, and they set off on a fun night of adventure, finding new things and revisiting old favorites. It's all the fluff I expect from Rainbow Rowell with very little of the angst.

I've been hearing about this series of books for years. It's not widely known, but those who read it always seem to love it wholly. I had to see for myself what could cause such deep devotion. Still, I wasn't quite prepared for this book to grab my heart the way it did. The story follows four boys who attend a local private high school and the girl who finds herself hanging out with them despite her better judgement. They're looking for the grave of a long-dead king. Legend says that whoever finds it gets a wish granted. But that's not the only reason they're looking. These children are all damaged in one way or another and this quest helps to give their life meaning. It binds them together in a found family and gives them something to dream about, hope for, pursue in every free hour. I fell in love with them, and I can only hope that they all find what they're looking for by the end of the series.

This is my favorite of the Wayward Children books so far. In general, I prefer the even-numbered ones, which take place in the various worlds rather than the school. They're a little more focused, and there's an air of tragedy that hangs around them that makes them so bittersweet. This one follows Lundy, who died in the first book. Here we go back to her childhood, her encounter with the Goblin Market, and the actions that ultimately cursed her. The Goblin Market is all about rules, which appeals to Lundy (and honestly, to me, too. It's nice to know where you stand). One of those rules is that she has until her 18th birthday to choose to either stay in the Goblin Market or in her old life. Until then, she can travel back and forth as much as she wants. But then she has to choose one life and forsake the other. For a world that prides itself on fairness, this is a supremely unfair condition. Especially because it gets more and more difficult to make as Lundy approaches ...

This book asks the question: what would you do if you knew you only had one day to live? It takes place in a world very much like ours, but with one key difference. On the day you die, you receive a call in the early morning hours letting you know that it's your last day. No information on how you die or exactly what time. Just that you have less than 24 hours to live. So what do you do? The story follows two teenaged boys - Mateo and Rufus - on the last day of their life. They reach out to each other through an app called "Last Friend". They have different goals for the day, but they agree to help each other through, to stand by each other until the very end. Whenever that ends up being. The tragedy is compounded by the fact that these two boys are both so very young. There's a lot that they meant to do that they won't be able to. And their last day is largely about making peace with that. About saying good bye to their loved ones and trying to squeeze in all...

I picked this book up expecting a light, happy, young adult romance. Instead I got put through an emotional wringer. This book broke my heart. Then is painstakingly pieced it back together again only to completely shatter it at the end. And then it left me with the smallest sliver of hope. It was very nearly perfect, and I'm mad at myself for taking this long to read it. Eleanor and Park  is about the love story of two teenagers (Eleanor and Park) in Omaha in 1986. They bond over comics and mix tapes, they fumble their way together with all the awkwardness and intensity of teenagers falling love for the first time. And then they suddenly have to grow up and they do it imperfectly and wonderfully and it just left me ruined. Park is half Korean and sticks out like a sore thumb in his little midwest town. He's not quite manly enough to win his father's approval, but his mother's love nearly makes up for it. He's incredibly atrtactive and weird and quiet, which puts...

I will start this by saying that when you name your two protagonists Lizzie and Darcy, you create certain expectations. Even if one of them is a character in a book written by the other one. But especially when one is revealed to be bisexual early on and the other one is, as I said, her creation. And especially when the book is billed as a paranormal romance. So this wasn't the book I was expecting or hoping it would be. Darcy is an eighteen year old who miraculously sells her first novel as part of a two-book deal and moves to NYC for a year to work on revisions, write her second book, and figure out if she can make it as an author. Lizzie is the protagonist of her book, a high school kid who discovers that she's a psycho pomp and falls in love with the God of Death. Sadly, their worlds never cross. This is basically two books, told in alternating chapters. And while the events of the "real world" inform the shape of Darcy's novel to some extent, there's ...

When I gave birth to my son, I packed a book in my hospital bag. It was more out of habit than anything else, though I was optimistic that I'd have some time to read in the hospital. That didn't end up happening, and it took me nearly six weeks to finish reading that book after Gavin was born. Despite this historical precedent, I once again packed a book in my hospital bag when I went to give birth to the twins. I can't just not have a book with me. And whether it was because this book was shorter or because it was one that I'd already read a few years previously, I actually read the whole thing before I was discharged from the hospital. I'm really glad I decided to re-read this book. I caught a lot of things I'd missed on my first read-through, and those details led to a richer experience. It made me appreciate the ending more, too. My first time through I felt like it left something to be desired, but this time it seemed like a perfect fit. McGuire has als...

This book was fine, I guess. It's a heist novel in space, which is exciting and should be right up my alley. But it's populated with an entire cast of teenagers and it ended up feeling a bit insipid. It didn't help that I never really cared about the romance, which was terribly cliched. The other thing that didn't work for me was the sheer number of betrayals and back-stabbings. I couldn't keep it all straight, and I had a hard time caring about any of the characters. It undermines any trust that might have been built up. So even though there's a fairly compelling mystery at the center of this book (and it's sequel), I never really got to a point where I cared.

The Rithmatist  is one of Sanderson's young adult novels. As such it has his patented world-building and magical system, but is a bit more bite-sized than most of his adult works (which tend to be long and complicated). It takes place in a world similar to ours, but where the US is an archipelago with some sort of evil lurking at the center. Warriors called Rithmatists are identified at a young age and then trained and ultimately sent to hold the line so this evil doesn't spread to the rest of the country. Only now it seems like something's escaped and a teenager who's obsessed with Rithmancy but has no powers of his own is determined to get to the bottom of it all. The magical system in this book is geometry-based, which I appreciated. But it's also not quite as cut and dried as the more mathematically inclined would hope for. Sure, things that are more geometrically perfect are stronger, but artwork and intent count for something, too. And the balance between th...

Carry On  is a loving spoof of Harry Potter. It's not quite the fanfic that Cath was writing in Fangirl , but it's not not that either. It positions itself as the eighth and final book in a series, though it relies on tropes just heavily enough for you to easily fill in the blanks of the previous seven books. The action centers around Simon Snow, the chosen one who's supposed to save the magical world from the Insidious Humdrum. The only problem is that he's absolutely terrible at magic: tons of power, no control. With him are best friend Penelope (who is never quite called the brightest witch of her age), roommate Baz (a vampire who is supposed to kill Simon because of family obligations but has fallen in love with him instead), and his mentor, The Magician (who is better than Dumbledore in some ways and worse in others). There are ghosts and secrets and magic and a whole lot of teenage angst. It's a ton of fun. Rainbow performs an excellent balancing act, high...

I didn't end up finishing this book. I don't actually do that all that often. I vet books pretty thoroughly before they make it on to my to-read list. And I read enough that I have a good sense of what I will and won't enjoy. Even when I find myself in the midst of a book I don't particularly like, I'll often just push through. But I'm trying to get more comfortable with just walking away from books. This is partly because my to-read list is currently a bit overwhelming, and partly because my reading time is soon to be seriously constricted. So even though I was more than halfway through this book, and I probably could have finished it in another day, I grabbed a different book when I left the house this morning. Why spend my commute being bored, annoyed, and confused if I don't have to? My biggest problem with Labyrinth Lost  was the protagonist. Alex is surrounded by a warm, loving, supportive family. She has uncontrollable powers that scare her, but her...

Rainbow Rowell is so good at writing these incredibly sweet, compulsively readable stories. Fangirl  was longer than most of her other books, but it wasn't long enough. I absolutely didn't want this to end, and part of me wants to follow Cath and Wren (and Levi and Reagan) all the way through college and beyond. The book follows Cath at her first year at college. Her twin sister, Wren, has decided that she wants to strike out on her own, leaving Cath with a stranger for a roommate and feeling adrift. She does fine in her classes. But instead of seeking out new friends, she retreats into the internet fandom of Simon Snow (this world's Harry Potter), and the fanfic she's hoping to finish before the last book comes out. I'll admit that I identify a bit more with Wren than Cath in this situation. But having read and written my fair share of fanfiction in high school, this was a fun trip down memory lane. It made me nostalgic for all the good parts of college. I love...

So far, 2019 has been a year of disappointments and unmet expectations. Or maybe it's just a string of books that haven't matched my mood. Maybe I've had a hard time enjoying books because my real life has been so stressful and exhausting (though books are supposed to help with that). Or maybe I'm just working through some of the chaff on my TBR and it all hit at once. There are a bunch of books on my shelf that I'm really excited about, after all. I just need to get to them. Whatever the reason, I didn't like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn  nearly as much as I expected to. Which was a letdown. This story seemed right up my alley. But it reminded me a lot of Angela's Ashes , another book that took me entirely too long to read. I found the story to be entirely too slow and a little bit disjointed. I could never really seem to get invested in any of the characters or in what was happening to them. It probably didn't help that I was in the middle of this wh...

Re-reading the Tiffany Aching books has been a joy. Pratchett is at the height of his game here, and these books are basically perfect. I can't wait to share these books with my kid, and in the meantime I've been pushing them on all the neighborhood kids. Though they're mostly still too young for them, too. (Actually, my proudest moment was when a conservative mom was asking me for book recs for her daughter, and I convinced her to buy a series by beloved anarchist Ursula K LeGuin). Anyway, this is the second of Tiffany Aching's adventures. She's leaving home to spend some time as an apprentice to a witch. She meets some other witches her own age, learns that being a witch is mostly doing things that other people don't want to do, and has to deal with a hiver to boot. The hiver is a collection of sense and memories that takes over bodies, collecting new memories and basically doing whatever it wants. It's attracted to power, so it's attracted to Tiff...

Man, reading this book was stressful. At least part of that is because of what was happening in the world when I was reading it. It turns out that dystopian fiction (and especially the second novel in a trilogy when everything gets really bad) is not great escapism when real life is starting to feel like a dystopia. But that doesn't mean it was a bad book. There was a lot to like about it. Mostly, I appreciated the fact that the narration was split between Todd and Viola. Todd is a frustrating protagonist. He was raised in a toxic environment and kept ignorant. This makes him easy to manipulate and means that he spends most of the book following the bad guy's orders and trying to justify it to himself. Viola, on the other hand, is everything I want from a YA heroine. Intelligent, eager to learn, and able to see the bigger picture. She has a strong moral compass, and while she's willing to concede that other's might know more than her, she keeps coming back to what s...

The Knife of Never Letting Go  is the first in a young adult science fiction dystopian trilogy. I remember hearing about it back when the last book was released. Not any of the plot details, just the very strong emotions it seemed to elicit in the people who had read it. It fits right in with the other young adult dystopian literature that came out around the same time. The book follows Todd Hewitt, the last boy in a town full of men. The women all died shortly after Todd was born, leaving him as the last baby. He's grown up on an alien world, in a town where everyone's thoughts are broadcast for everyone else to hear. It's a bit of an off-putting premise, but I'm glad I didn't let it scare me away from the books completely. Shortly before his thirteenth birthday, Todd comes across a girl on the outskirts of his town. It quickly becomes clear that he's been lied to for his entire life. But before he can properly wrap his mind around that, the plot kicks off ...