Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow
The TAYSHAS list was released on December 1, and it turns out that ten of the books I read this past summer made the list. This one I had on hold on Overdrive for a week or so, but when I saw it at Target, I decided I was tired of waiting my turn, and just bought it.
I really wanted to read this because the description said it was for fans of Girl, Interrupted and The Bell Jar, two books I enjoyed immensely. This did not disappoint.
Charlotte "Charlie" Davis is a cutter. At the beginning of the book, she is in a mental facility. She tried to kill herself while living in a sex house, and a couple of her friends found her. This is a girl who lived on the streets after her mother kicked her out, and had a rough life. The mental facility saved her. She was there for a few weeks, but then the money ran out, so she was released to her mother's custody.
Unfortunately, Charlie's mother didn't want her to come home, so she gave her some money, and Charlie moves to Arizona to be with one of her friends, a guy named Mikey. Charlie has feelings for Mikey, which he does not return.
Charlie finds a job washing dishes at a coffee shop, as well as a room to let. She is managing to keep from cutting. She meets a man who is all wrong for her, who mostly uses her to buy him drugs. He is the beginning of her undoing.
I am fascinated by "broken" people, so this book was right up my alley. I found myself just wanting to grab Charlie and hug her. I wanted to help her to be better. This one was so worth my time.
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
A Sequel Jane Austen Would Have Loved
The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet by Kate Rorick and Rachel Kiley
As I've said many times before, I love Austen's Pride and Prejudice. What I don't usually mention is how much I dislike Mrs. Bennet and Lydia Bennet in Austen's story. This book certainly redeems Lydia for me.
I bought this because I adored The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet. I wasn't ready to leave the world of these modern day Bennets, and I didn't have to.
Lydia is the youngest Bennet daughter. She's flighty, doesn't always think things through, and spends more time having fun than focusing on real life. Because of this, it's not really a surprise that she was duped by George Wickham. But Lydia is trying to come back from this.
She is seeing a counselor, and this has made her think that psychology would be a good major for her. So, the plan is for her to take the last two classes of her associate's degree, then move to San Francisco with cousin, Mary, so she can transfer to a four year college. Too bad Lydia gets in the way of Lydia.
But, Lydia is not down and out. She is finding a way to find herself, this time, without her big sisters there to help her every step of the way. I think this is why I loved Lydia--because she was forced to grow up and find herself.
Do yourself a favor, and read this.
As I've said many times before, I love Austen's Pride and Prejudice. What I don't usually mention is how much I dislike Mrs. Bennet and Lydia Bennet in Austen's story. This book certainly redeems Lydia for me.
I bought this because I adored The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet. I wasn't ready to leave the world of these modern day Bennets, and I didn't have to.
Lydia is the youngest Bennet daughter. She's flighty, doesn't always think things through, and spends more time having fun than focusing on real life. Because of this, it's not really a surprise that she was duped by George Wickham. But Lydia is trying to come back from this.
She is seeing a counselor, and this has made her think that psychology would be a good major for her. So, the plan is for her to take the last two classes of her associate's degree, then move to San Francisco with cousin, Mary, so she can transfer to a four year college. Too bad Lydia gets in the way of Lydia.
But, Lydia is not down and out. She is finding a way to find herself, this time, without her big sisters there to help her every step of the way. I think this is why I loved Lydia--because she was forced to grow up and find herself.
Do yourself a favor, and read this.
Not Quite Up to Par with Unwind
Unstrung: an Unwind Story by Neal Schusterman
I read this because it indicated that it told the story of Lev between his adventures with CyFy and when he shows up at the airplane graveyard. Technically, this is true, but this is not so much about Lev as it is about Wil.
Lev ends up on a reservation. He becomes friends with Wil, a guy about his age who has an amazing gift for music. Wil is tasked with playing the music for his grandfather to die to. He doesn't want to, but he does it anyway.
One day, some bad dudes come onto the reservation to kidnap kids of age to be unwound. These people, the Native Americans, don't believe in unwinding, so there's now a bounty on the head of these kids. To save his friends, Wil volunteers. He becomes unwound. Lev is sad. The end.
Seriously, this happened in less than fifty pages. I wish I'd left well enough alone.
I read this because it indicated that it told the story of Lev between his adventures with CyFy and when he shows up at the airplane graveyard. Technically, this is true, but this is not so much about Lev as it is about Wil.
Lev ends up on a reservation. He becomes friends with Wil, a guy about his age who has an amazing gift for music. Wil is tasked with playing the music for his grandfather to die to. He doesn't want to, but he does it anyway.
One day, some bad dudes come onto the reservation to kidnap kids of age to be unwound. These people, the Native Americans, don't believe in unwinding, so there's now a bounty on the head of these kids. To save his friends, Wil volunteers. He becomes unwound. Lev is sad. The end.
Seriously, this happened in less than fifty pages. I wish I'd left well enough alone.
Should've Stayed an Ebook
Beauty-Everland Ever After by Caroline Lee
This was in my October Lit-Cube. We were supposed to be thrilled that this book was printed just for subscribers. However, like the title of this post indicates, it should have stayed as ebook. It's a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, set in Wyoming.
Arabella is twice widowed, with a ten year old son named Eddie. She runs the bookstore/library. A new, mysterious man moves to town. He is missing his eyes, and is scarred. Arabella sets quite a store on beauty, and Vincenzo, aka new guy in town, doesn't think she will ever see beyond that.
However, Vincenzo realizes some things, and rather than try for happiness, decides to leave town. He doesn't.
Boring as all get out.
I was so disappointed by this book. Belle is my favorite Disney princess, and this retelling makes her shallow. I just couldn't reconcile myself to this.
This was in my October Lit-Cube. We were supposed to be thrilled that this book was printed just for subscribers. However, like the title of this post indicates, it should have stayed as ebook. It's a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, set in Wyoming.
Arabella is twice widowed, with a ten year old son named Eddie. She runs the bookstore/library. A new, mysterious man moves to town. He is missing his eyes, and is scarred. Arabella sets quite a store on beauty, and Vincenzo, aka new guy in town, doesn't think she will ever see beyond that.
However, Vincenzo realizes some things, and rather than try for happiness, decides to leave town. He doesn't.
Boring as all get out.
I was so disappointed by this book. Belle is my favorite Disney princess, and this retelling makes her shallow. I just couldn't reconcile myself to this.
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Two Perspectives Done Right
Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven
I bought this book for two reasons: 1 it's a signed copy and 2 I loved All the Bright Places by the same author. I was hoping this would be as good, and it was.
First, we have Jack. He is bi-racial, sports a righteous afro, and can't distinguish people by how they look. Meaning he has to find identifying features for everyone in his life, including his parents and siblings. He can't remember a time that he wasn't like that, but doesn't know if he was born that way or became that way due to an accident he had when he was six. He's a bit of an asshole, but that's more of a mechanism to make up for his handicap. By the way, no one knows about this handicap.
Then, we have Libby. She was once known as the Fattest Teenager in America, and had to be cut out of her house. Her mother died when she was ten, it was unexpected. She was also bullied when she was in grade school. Libby's way of dealing with this was to eat to fill the emptiness inside her. At the present time, she has lost 250 lbs, and is returning to school. People make her life miserable due to her size, but Libby is valiantly trying to make it.
One day, Jack comes up and wraps his arms around Libby in what is called Fat Girl Rodeo. Jack does it to keep his friends from doing it and humiliating Libby, and she punches him. They end up in a counseling session that lasts several weeks, and have to fulfill community service, which causes them to form an unlikely friendship.
What I like about this book is that it tackles bullying in a real way. It's less about Libby being overweight than it is about teenagers being assholes, which is something I see on the regular.
There's so much more going on in this book than what I have presented here, but to catch it all, you need to read it.
I bought this book for two reasons: 1 it's a signed copy and 2 I loved All the Bright Places by the same author. I was hoping this would be as good, and it was.
First, we have Jack. He is bi-racial, sports a righteous afro, and can't distinguish people by how they look. Meaning he has to find identifying features for everyone in his life, including his parents and siblings. He can't remember a time that he wasn't like that, but doesn't know if he was born that way or became that way due to an accident he had when he was six. He's a bit of an asshole, but that's more of a mechanism to make up for his handicap. By the way, no one knows about this handicap.
Then, we have Libby. She was once known as the Fattest Teenager in America, and had to be cut out of her house. Her mother died when she was ten, it was unexpected. She was also bullied when she was in grade school. Libby's way of dealing with this was to eat to fill the emptiness inside her. At the present time, she has lost 250 lbs, and is returning to school. People make her life miserable due to her size, but Libby is valiantly trying to make it.
One day, Jack comes up and wraps his arms around Libby in what is called Fat Girl Rodeo. Jack does it to keep his friends from doing it and humiliating Libby, and she punches him. They end up in a counseling session that lasts several weeks, and have to fulfill community service, which causes them to form an unlikely friendship.
What I like about this book is that it tackles bullying in a real way. It's less about Libby being overweight than it is about teenagers being assholes, which is something I see on the regular.
There's so much more going on in this book than what I have presented here, but to catch it all, you need to read it.
Saturday, November 26, 2016
A New Look at an Old Debate
Unwind by Neal Schusterman
I had put off reading this book because every adult I spoke to said it was disturbing. One even said it was graphically descriptive (negative, Ghost Rider). My students, on the other hand, raved about this book, almost to a one. So, I paid a dollar and bought a copy. I am so glad I did.
Obviously, this takes place sometime in the future, after the Heartland Wars. These wars were fought over the abortion argument. What came as a result of these wars were what is known as unwinding. If a woman gets pregnant, she goes through the pregnancy and delivers the baby. One of two things then happen: 1 she raises the baby herself or 2 she storks it. Storking a baby involves leaving a baby on the front porch of a house without getting caught. If the mother gets caught, she has to raise the baby herself. If she is not caught, the family that finds the baby has to raise it. As a result, there are a ton of unwanted babies who make it to at least age thirteen.
Once a child is thirteen, parents can choose to have them unwound. There are a variety of reasons why a parent may choose to have their child unwound. One reason is that the kid is a troublemaker, and they are just done. Once a child turns eighteen, they cannot be unwound.
So, I know you're asking what unwinding means exactly. Basically, children who are scheduled to be unwound become organ donors. Their body parts are harvested, and these parts go to people who need them. Creepy, no?
Connor is fifteen or sixteen (I don't really remember). He's a bit of a troublemaker, and doesn't bring home the grades his parents want. They decide to have him unwound, and so he runs away. In the process, he causes a huge bus accident, where Risa, an orphan from a State Home who is scheduled to be unwound, escapes, and he kidnaps Lev, a tithe. (Tithes are children who are born and raised to be unwound as their family's tithe to God. Like tithes at church.) These three end up on the run, or AWOL.
Lev is not happy that he was "rescued." He always knew what was in store for him, and he was ok with it. When Connor and Risa were hiding out with him, he escapes and tries to turn them in. Lev ends up on the road with a guy named CyFi, and learns to live off what is available. Connor and Risa end up in a warehouse safe house for AWOL unwinds. Shortly after that, Connor and Risa end up at an airplane graveyard in Arizona with about 400 other unwinds. All they have to do is make it until they are eighteen, and then the threat of unwinding is gone.
Will they make it? You seriously have to read this book. So, so good.
I had put off reading this book because every adult I spoke to said it was disturbing. One even said it was graphically descriptive (negative, Ghost Rider). My students, on the other hand, raved about this book, almost to a one. So, I paid a dollar and bought a copy. I am so glad I did.
Obviously, this takes place sometime in the future, after the Heartland Wars. These wars were fought over the abortion argument. What came as a result of these wars were what is known as unwinding. If a woman gets pregnant, she goes through the pregnancy and delivers the baby. One of two things then happen: 1 she raises the baby herself or 2 she storks it. Storking a baby involves leaving a baby on the front porch of a house without getting caught. If the mother gets caught, she has to raise the baby herself. If she is not caught, the family that finds the baby has to raise it. As a result, there are a ton of unwanted babies who make it to at least age thirteen.
Once a child is thirteen, parents can choose to have them unwound. There are a variety of reasons why a parent may choose to have their child unwound. One reason is that the kid is a troublemaker, and they are just done. Once a child turns eighteen, they cannot be unwound.
So, I know you're asking what unwinding means exactly. Basically, children who are scheduled to be unwound become organ donors. Their body parts are harvested, and these parts go to people who need them. Creepy, no?
Connor is fifteen or sixteen (I don't really remember). He's a bit of a troublemaker, and doesn't bring home the grades his parents want. They decide to have him unwound, and so he runs away. In the process, he causes a huge bus accident, where Risa, an orphan from a State Home who is scheduled to be unwound, escapes, and he kidnaps Lev, a tithe. (Tithes are children who are born and raised to be unwound as their family's tithe to God. Like tithes at church.) These three end up on the run, or AWOL.
Lev is not happy that he was "rescued." He always knew what was in store for him, and he was ok with it. When Connor and Risa were hiding out with him, he escapes and tries to turn them in. Lev ends up on the road with a guy named CyFi, and learns to live off what is available. Connor and Risa end up in a warehouse safe house for AWOL unwinds. Shortly after that, Connor and Risa end up at an airplane graveyard in Arizona with about 400 other unwinds. All they have to do is make it until they are eighteen, and then the threat of unwinding is gone.
Will they make it? You seriously have to read this book. So, so good.
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
A Beastly Knockoff
The League of Beastly Dreadfuls by Holly Grant
This one came in my Harry Potter themed Lit-Cube. Not sure why, as it is in no way related to Harry Potter. In fact, it is more like The Series of Unfortunate Events books by Lemony Snicket, but I think that is mostly due to the way it is told. From time to time, the reader is addressed.
Anastasia is kidnapped from school one day by two older women claiming to be her great aunts. They tell her that her parents have been killed in a freak vacuuming accident. Anastasia falls for it, and ends up in their creepy, old Victorian house. A house that used to be St. Agony's Asylum. That bodes well, no?
Anyway, Anastasia is locked in her room every night, and asked to do weird chores, like catching leeches. One day while overhearing her "aunts," Anastasia finds out that they intend to kill her and feed her to some beast. Anastasia meets Ollie and Quentin, who the aunts have imprisoned for nefarious reasons as well. The three of them decide they must escape, so they make plans to do so.
This is the beginning of a series I am not likely to continue. This was written for upper elementary school students, so I wouldn't even put this in my classroom. I just wasn't impressed. It was written too much like something I enjoyed, but I felt that this author tried to hard.
This one came in my Harry Potter themed Lit-Cube. Not sure why, as it is in no way related to Harry Potter. In fact, it is more like The Series of Unfortunate Events books by Lemony Snicket, but I think that is mostly due to the way it is told. From time to time, the reader is addressed.
Anastasia is kidnapped from school one day by two older women claiming to be her great aunts. They tell her that her parents have been killed in a freak vacuuming accident. Anastasia falls for it, and ends up in their creepy, old Victorian house. A house that used to be St. Agony's Asylum. That bodes well, no?
Anyway, Anastasia is locked in her room every night, and asked to do weird chores, like catching leeches. One day while overhearing her "aunts," Anastasia finds out that they intend to kill her and feed her to some beast. Anastasia meets Ollie and Quentin, who the aunts have imprisoned for nefarious reasons as well. The three of them decide they must escape, so they make plans to do so.
This is the beginning of a series I am not likely to continue. This was written for upper elementary school students, so I wouldn't even put this in my classroom. I just wasn't impressed. It was written too much like something I enjoyed, but I felt that this author tried to hard.
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