Lies, Knives, and Girls in Red Dresses (Ron Koertge)

***

         Lies, Knives and Girls in Red Dresses is a collection of fairytale retellings written in free verse.  It includes a modern take on everything from Cinderella to Bluebeard with a dark twist.

         As you probably have figured out, I love a good fairytale retelling.  I sped through this collection, although I'd have to say that it wasn't my favorite.  Some of the stories had a cool or creepy side to them that is vaguely reminiscent of the original tales.  (Have you read any of the Grimm brothers' stories?  They're no Disney movie, I'll tell you that.)  I found that I couldn't really connect to the characters well, though - probably because each story was no more than a few pages long.  This was a good collection, but it didn't particularly stand out to me.

Rating: 3/5
Completed: November 10, 2012

Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Laini Taylor)

*****

         To her classmates, blue-haired art student Karou seems very strange.  She disappears mysteriously without warning and returns days or weeks later as though everything is normal.  Her sketchbook is full of elaborate drawings of monsters who collect teeth, and she claims the creatures are real.  Though nobody quite believes Karou, it's true.  But Karou's world is full of mysteries, and not even she understands who or what she is.  When a strange young man with eyes like fire arrives in Prague, Karou may have her chance to discover who she is - if she can stand to know the truth.

         This was an awesome book!  I couldn't put it down.  It's fast-paced and the concept is really cool.  When an author creates a fantasy world, it's really important that there are enough details that it feels real and the reader believes it.  Laini Taylor did a great job of this; I was sucked into Karou's world.  I loved the characters, as well: Karou's mysterious exterior and childish interior, Zuzana's spunkiness and loyalty, and Akiva's pensive nature.  Though this book has the feel of other books (like Cassandra Clare's Immortal Instruments), its content is unique.  I thought about giving it four stars, but that didn't seem like enough, and I decided that sometimes sheer awesomeness counts for an extra star.  If you like fantasy (and maybe even if you don't) you should read Daughter of Smoke and Bone!

Rating: 5/5
Completed: November 2, 2012

Happy day after Thanksgiving, if you celebrate it!  I found these ecards from fictional characters yesterday on figment.com.  Best holiday cards ever, in my opinion.

The Casual Vacancy (J.K. Rowling)

****

         In the small town of Pagford, the death of a man does not go unnoticed.  Barry Fairbrother's premature death by aneurysm leads to chaos within the village's social circles.  A seat on the parish council is now vacant, and there are unexpected candidates for the upcoming election.  Beneath the obvious political battle lurk many other conflicts that create confusion as the townspeople prepare to vote.  Several teens are battling with their parents and with themselves.  Spouses are facing deep-rooted conflicts that they have been trying to disguise.  The residents of Pagford would like to think that theirs is a perfect town, but as they try to fill the casual vacancy, they are forced to accept that their lives are anything but perfect.

         The Casual Vacancy was an interesting book.  In some ways I feel like it's bad to compare it to Potter, but in other ways it's sort of inevitable.  After all, Harry Potter is a huge part of the reason I picked this book up in the first place.  The two books are very different, though.  Whereas Harry Potter tends to focus on the humanity and vulnerability in people, The Casual Vacancy focuses on the darker side of the residents of Pagford.  It's heavy on the social satire as well.  So it wasn't a light read, and it wasn't very speedy, either.  But it was interesting to get into the heads of each character and see who they really are.  J.K. Rowling did a good job of developing all of the characters and their personal demons.  Although I didn't always love her negative portrayal of humanity in this book, I can at least say that it was well-executed.  The verdict: it was really good, but I liked Harry Potter better.

Rating: 4/5
Completed: October 26, 2012

Did anybody read this book?  What did you think?

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (James Joyce)

***

         This semi-autobiographical novel tells the coming-of-age story of Stephen Dedalus, a young man growing up amidst the conflict for Irish home rule.  Stephen is used to letting other people dictate how he thinks about the world.  Issues like religion and patriotism play a central role in the Irish identity.  Stephen willingly goes along with the beliefs of his family and his teachers.  As he gets older, he realizes that those people weren't as wise as he once thought they were.  Without guidance from the people he used to respect, Stephen has to figure out what he believes to be true and find his own voice.

         It's been a while since I've had to write a review on a book that I read for school.  You might remember that those reviews are pretty short.  This will probably be short also; I get pretty tired of talking about books after a point.  The good news is that I actually liked Portrait, and class discussions didn't completely ruin it for me.  In fact, this book lends itself to deep philosophical discussion and analysis.  This is a good book at surface level, but there are lots of deeper layers that are worth thinking about.  Stephen deals with some pretty heavy themes: religion, nationality, family, and eternity, to name a few.  We get to know Stephen from inside his head (Joyce was apparently famous for this stream of consciousness style).  Sometimes it can be confusing, but I found that it also helps you to understand Stephen's thoughts and experiences.  I liked Stephen as a person despite the many mistakes he made.  He is annoying at times, I guess, but his determination to find out who he is and then stick with it is admirable.  On the whole, I thought that Portrait was a pretty good book, especially for a school assignment.

Rating: 3/5
Completed: October 22, 2012

Hello, blog.  I have neglected you.
It's been a while.  I've finally made it through Portrait as well as The Casual Vacancy and am on to the next book.  Which is awesome, by the way.  I promise I will try to post again soon, just in case there are people who sometimes read this blog.  :)
Reading this book made me think it's been a while since I've read a properly old book.  When is the last time you read a classic for fun (if you've ever done that at all)?  Mine was Sense and Sensibility in June 2011.  Maybe I should pick up another sometime soon . . .

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece (Annabel Pitcher)

****

         Ten year-old Jamie doesn't remember his older sister Rose very much.  He was only five years old on the day of her sudden and violent death, but Rose has lived on to haunt his family ever since.  When Jamie's mother can't take the painful memories anymore, she leaves.  Jamie, his dad, and Rose's twin Jas move from London to the countryside for a new start.  They don't get the start that Jamie hopes for, though, because his dad is still an alcoholic and still worships the golden urn in which he keeps Rose's ashes.  Jamie is teased at school and has only one friend, a girl named Sunya.  He's very conflicted because his dad has forbidden him to speak with Muslims, and Sunya is one.  On the other hand, Sunya is kind and loyal, and Jamie knows she's a good person.  Jamie wants to change his life for the better, and he's determined to put his family back together.

         This book was really, really sad, but I loved it.  I originally thought that this might be geared towards younger kids because the protagonist is ten.  That's not at all the case, though - this book gets into some deep concepts and heavy stuff.  Jamie is such a sweet little kid, and his portrayal of his family life is raw and honest.  I felt awful for him because he wants so badly to believe that things will go back to normal, even when it's hard to imagine how that's possible.  Annabel Pitcher did a great job of portraying all the conflicting ideas Jamie is presented with, and how he eventually comes to figure out what he believes in.  Jamie doesn't have many perfect role models in his life, but he manages to find the best sides of his broken family.  I definitely recommend this book!

Rating: 4/5
Completed: September 29, 2012

What have you been reading lately?  You hear a lot from me but I don't get to hear much from you . . . post in the comments!  (You don't have to follow the blog to do it.)

The Happiness Project (Gretchen Rubin)

****

         Gretchen Rubin wasn't depressed when she started her Happiness Project; she just realized that she wasn't as happy as she wanted to be.  So she made a one-year plan to become happier, complete with resolution chart and monthly goals.  This book takes you through what she learned and decided over the course of her Happiness Project.

         I loved this book!  It was so interesting and informative.  There was a good blend of factual information and Gretchen's opinions based on her personal experiences.  It wasn't too dry, either.  I found her classification of clutter completely hilarious (probably because my house is pretty cluttered).  One of my favorite parts of The Happiness Project was that, unlike many other "self-help" books, Gretchen doesn't try to sell her system.  She doesn't claim that her way is the best or only way.  In fact, she emphasizes that everyone's happiness project will be different from hers.  I think many of the things she did could be applicable in my life, but I appreciate that she didn't try to force anything on me.  The Happiness Project makes me want to make positive, happiness-inducing changes in my life.  For a while, I even wanted to clean my closet like Gretchen did, which is really saying something.  You are very likely to find something in here that resonates with you.  Anyone who's interested in the concept of happiness will enjoy this book.

Rating: 4/5
Completed: September 21, 2012

Self-help books can be really great (like this one), or really terrible.  Personally, I despised The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Robots . . . er, Teens because it came across as condescending and was full of no, duh kinds of advice.  What's your experience with this genre?  Helpful and inspiring or unrealistic and condescending?

Bittersweet (Sarah Ockler)

***

         Hudson used to be a great figure skater, but she hasn't competed since her dad betrayed her family and left them.  Now she bakes cupcakes at her mom's failing small-town diner and tries to accept spending the rest of her life working there.  Lately, though, Hudson has been feeling trapped.  She's been making secret excursions to the frozen lake to skate and think about the future she could have had.  Then Hudson gets a letter in the mail inviting her to compete for a skating scholarship.  She realizes that it's her final chance to make her dreams come true.  The only problem is that her childhood dreams don't fit easily into the life that Hudson is living now.

         This was a good chick-lit novel, but not outstanding.  It's been a while since I read it, so I don't really remember much.  I only know that I wasn't a huge fan of the ending.  It felt a little abrupt to me, as though Hudson hadn't developed enough as a character or as a person to make the decision that she made.  Bittersweet was kind of a cookie-cutter book, but as I've said before, that's not always a bad thing.  If you like chick-lit, you'll definitely like this - but I wouldn't recommend that you go out of your way to read it if chick-lit isn't usually your thing.

Rating: 3/5
Completed: August 31, 2012