Book review: Paper towns/ Green, John

Paper Towns by John Green

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
John Green loves to write the teen novel about the perfect, ungettable girl and this is no exception. Paper Towns is similar to Looking for Alaska, but much more humorous and lighthearted. Quentin, a self-professed band geek who doesn't play an instrument, has known his great love, Margo Roth Spiegelman, since childhood. High school forces the childhood friends apart into separate, cool vs. uncool social circles, and Margo maintains the peace between the two circles, protecting Quentin & co. from the wrath of the jocks and homecoming queens. While Q continues to love Margo from afar, he has no idea how troubled Margo has become since they were kids. When Margo invites Q to join her in a night of pranks and schemes, barriers fall and high school as Q knows it begins to unravel. Engaging read to start, drags a bit in the middle, but part 3 is so hilarious I was in stitches.


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Book review: Prep/ Sittenfeld, Curtis

Prep: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
Set in a fictional, elite Massachusetts boarding school, Lee Fiora applies to Ault School on a whim, gets a scholarship, and leaves Indiana for a world completely unlike her own. While the prose was well written and pitch perfect, Lee grated on my nerves. Definitely an engaging read, if only for the spot on characterizations of life behind the ivy-covered walls of prep school. Admittedly I love a character who's fiesty and outspoken (I mean, really, who doesn't?) and I can abide by a character who's shy and introspective, and both must at least be likable or endearing in some way. Lee was neither of those things. Spineless, whiny, fearful, skittish, snobbish to the people who did actually try to reach out to her, Lee commits a mortal sin in my book--hanging her entire self worth on a boy. Perhaps I've forgotten what it's like to be a teenage girl, but if this is what it was like, thank goodness I am an adult!


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Book review: Beware of the frog/ Bee, William

Beware of the Frog by William Bee

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This one actually made me LOL, for real, and it's been a long time since a picture book has surprised me. Love the retro illustrations, story structure, and twist.


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Book review: Dragonfly pool, The/ Ibbotson, Eva

The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
12-year-old Tally knows the war between Hitler and Britain will begin soon and she wants to do everything she can to help. When her father secures a scholarship for her to attend boarding school in the countryside, Tally is at first dismayed she'll have to leave her father and aunts. She soon learns that Delderton, a hippie-ish "free school" where children are not forced to wear uniforms or even attend classes, is an amazing place where she begins to discover who she is. What starts off as a school story then turns into a trans-European adventure as Tally and her young friends form a folk dancing troupe, visit neutral Bergania, and end up smuggling its young crown prince away from the clutches of the Gestapo. Slow to start and definitely not for reluctant readers, this turned out to be very enjoyable as the characterization, action, and plotting picked up.


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Book review: Paint it black/ Fitch, Janet

Paint It Black by Janet Fitch

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Set in 80's punk LA, Josie Tyrell struggles to come to grips with the suicide of her tortured, gifted, artistic boyfriend, Michael. Michael's mother, a world-renowned pianist, and Josie are simultaneously drawn to and repulsed by one another as both attempt to cling to the bits and pieces Michael has left behind. Gritty, very sex-drugs-and-rock-n'-roll, and filled with all sorts of Oedipal craziness, this proved to be quite a compelling read. I knocked off a star only because Josie's ruminations tend to be a bit long-winded and repetitive. Side note: I got to meet Janet Fitch at last year's Literary Orange and she's nothing short of amazing!


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Screaming into the void

That is what I feel like tonight as I sit here remembering my mother. It's been four months now since she passed away and the grief just comes out of nowhere and knocks me senseless. I must be senseless right now since I know my logical mind doesn't usually allow me to bare this much soul online.

I usually feel like I put up a very brave front -- few public tears, laughter as if nothing this sad and awful could possibly be happening to me. Some days I even wonder, "What's wrong with me? Am I done with the whole grieving thing? Wow, that was quick." But some nights, the sadness just comes barreling into me, making the tears fall like, well something poetically tragic that I just can't think of right now. No idea, really, what's triggered this current onslaught. A stroll through Lowe's yesterday afternoon in search of kitchen tile brought on tears as I hit the ridiculously gaudy Christmas section, a section I know my mom would've loved. Sometimes there's just this dull emptiness....

I'm so frustrated and even a little pissed off that I can't just pick the phone and call her anymore. Such a cliche, but all the little things I took for granted are the things I miss about her the most. Her calling, leaving message after message, wanting to talk to Koa on the phone even though all she'd do is stand there and nod. Knowing I could always get good parking when she was with me because of her handicap placard. I can't even begin to describe how angry I am at myself for not realizing how little time we had left.

Ah, enough for now. This crying jag has left me weary and my logical brain is telling me that it's way past my bedtime.

Book review: Hunger games/ Collins, Suzanne

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Since the death of her father, 16-year-old Katniss has been forced to hunt beyond the fences of District 12 to feed her mother and little sister. Despite being abjectly poor, Katniss finds solace in caring for her sister, Prim, and her friendship with Gale, a boy 2 years older and in similar circumstances. All that is stripped away by the Hunger Games. The Capitol, the authoritarian center of Panem (what's left of North America) keeps the Districts in line by forcing two teenagers from each District to compete in the annual Hunger Games, a media-frenzied gladiator-style tournament where there can only be one victor -- the last one alive. A bit 1984, a bit Blade Runner, and a bit Uglies, this one was so wonderfully suspenseful I couldn't put it down once I started. This one is a must-add to my list of best YA books.


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