Noteworthy by Riley Redgate

Book— At scholarship student Jordan Sun’s elite, arts-focused boarding high school, getting cast in the school musical isn’t just a fun diversion–it’s a make-or-break-your-career proposition. After she gets passed over for the musical the third year running, Jordan gets some hard advice. For an alto 2 like Jordan, the deepest register for female voices, there just are not many parts, leading or otherwise, in musical theater. Shortly after, Jordan hears that there is an open spot in the Sharpshooters, the most prestigious a capella octet on campus, and decides to audition. The only catch? The Sharpshooters is an all-male group. Can alto 2 Jordan be just the tenor the Sharpshooters need?

Redgate’s characters, especially the Sharpshooters, are a diverse, tight-knit bunch and it’s a pleasure to see Jordan become a member of their little family. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy this story because I know next to nothing about music and even less about a capella, but I needn’t have worried. Noteworthy should appeal equally to music neophytes and music buffs. If you like realistic, well-drawn characters, high school stories with a dash of romance, and stories exploring gender, you’ll definitely want to read this book. If you enjoy this one, you might also enjoy the manga series Ouran High School Host Club, which has a fairly similar premise (girl cross-dresses and gets in with a popular club of boys at a prestigious school) but a sillier tone.

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

Book— Despite 26 crushes, Molly Peskin-Suso has never had a kiss or a  boyfriend. Her twin sister Cassie gets a girlfriend, her friends have boyfriends, even her two moms are getting married, but Molly has no one and obsesses about it, feeling awkward and left behind. Molly decides to do something revolutionary–rather than just crushing silently, she chooses to risk rejection and go after the boy she wants. The trouble is deciding which one. Will she go after Will, the cute, hipster-cool best friend of Cassie’s girlfriend, or Reid, the nerdy, so-uncool-it’s-almost-cool boy at her summer job?

While Molly is sometimes so boy-crazy that it’s suffocating to read about, she is a witty, engaging narrator who feels like a real teenager, complete with a Pinterest obsession and dialogue laden with tumblrspeak. Molly is chubby and suffers from anxiety for which she takes medication, situations which Albertalli portrays realistically and sensitively. This is a light, fun book with lots of diverse representation that’s perfect for summertime. The Upside of Unrequited will appeal to readers of John Green and Rainbow Rowell as well as those who enjoyed Albertalli’s Lincoln-nominated first book, Simon Vs. The Homo-Sapiens Agenda.

Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

Book–Becky Bloomwood is a reluctant financial journalist with a dirty secret:  she can’t stop spending money. Despite harassment from creditors, Becky cannot resist the siren song of shiny new things, particularly clothes, to the point where she invents a dying aunt to justify borrowing money to buy a new scarf. She tries spending less money (and fails), tries making more money (and fails), and even tries marrying rich. The fun of this novel comes from watching Becky squirm; she has a knack for getting herself into sticky, embarrassing situations reminiscent of Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones and is a delightfully flawed character who with a distinctive and strong narrative voice. As long as you don’t take it too seriously, Confessions of a Shopaholic is chick lit at its light, airy, and compulsively readable best.

If you like this book because of the fashion focus, you’ll also love The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger (and its sequel), the Haley Randolph series by Dorothy Howell (start with Handbags and Homicide), and the rest of the Shopaholic series. If you’d have liked this one better if only Becky weren’t so darn shallow, try some of Rainbow Rowell’s books, like Attachments, or A Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan.

 

 

Switching Places with Fido: Stories About Swapping Bodies with the Dog

Books Imagine waking up to find that your hands have become paws in the night.  You jump off the bed (on four legs!), look in the mirror and see a furry, wet-nosed face staring back at you.  But then, you turn around and see yourself, your human self, looking just as confused as you.  Somehow, you and your dog have swapped bodies!  Dog Days by Elsa Watson and The Dog in the Freezer by Harry Mazer (available through Interlibrary Loan) explore the bizarreness of  finding yourself stuck in the body of your furry best friend, making for some fun, quirky reads.

In Elsa Watson’s Dog Days, we meet struggling café owner Jessica Sheldon, who is going through a ruff time. Elsa holds the famed title of “number one dog hater” after an unfortunate incident in which she may have screamed at two unsuspecting pups.  “Woofinstock,” the towns annual dog-themed festival, is Jessica’s chance to redeem herself, and her café.  Jessica is in way over her head after volunteering for the festival, and taking in a stray dog named Zoe was never part of the plan. Things get even worse when Zoe and Jessica magically happen to swap forms.  While Zoe is ecstatic that she finally has the power to take any food she likes, Jessica is terrified imagining what her body double will do next!

The Dog in the Freezer is a compilation of three novellas, each tail showcasing the strong bound between a boy and his dog.  (Though we don’t have a copy of this novel at our library, you can request it through Interlibrary Loan).  This was one of my favorite’s growing up.  The body-swapping story is titled “My Life As a Boy,” about a hghschooler named Gregory and his genius dog Einstein.  Gregory and Einstein just wake up one day, on the day of Gregory’s very important basketball game, to find they have switched places!  Will Einstein be able to take Gregory’s place in the big game?  With tons of humor, and a touch of suspense, this book really is the fleas knees.

 

 

 

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

41-rjgGUB5L._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_Book–Ella Minnow Pea (LMNOP) lives with her family on the fictional island of Nollop, just off the coast of South Carolina. On the island nation founded by Nevin Nollop, supposed creator of the pangram “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,” Nollopian citizens are proud of their wordy heritage and communicate in a sesquipedalian style that makes their letters a fun, dictionary-requiring read. In the center of town, there is a memorial to Nevin Nollop, including his famous sentence. The plot begins when one letter falls off of the statue: the letter “Z.” Rather than re-affixing the letter to the monument and moving on, the island Council chooses to interpret this as a divine sign from Nollop, and bans this letter from Nollop’s written and spoken discourse. While “Z” is no great loss, the Nollopian’s rationalize, and dutifully eliminate it, they are less sanguine when more letters begin to fall from the statue and accordingly, from their language, turning their society of free expression into one of censorship, fear, and constrained liberties.

Considered as a novel, Ella Minnow Pea is weak–the characterization is broad and the world-building is vague. As a fable in the vein of Animal Farm, though, it is great fun, and as a linguistic experiment, it’s even better. This book will appeal to people who love children’s books like The Phantom Tollbooth and The Lost Track of Time and were craving an adult version of books that have so much fun with the English language.

 

Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life (2016)

MV5BNjQzMTczNjI0Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwODY5MTY5OTE@._V1_SY1000_CR0,0,631,1000_AL_Movie –  Having been kicked out of a couple previous middle schools Rafe (Griffin Gluck) is sent to a super conservative strict school with many rules. This school is void of any creativity and personalization. Its more about the test scores than the student taking the test.  Rafes only outlet is a journal he doodles in day in and out. With his active imagination anything is possible. At this new school, along with his best friend Leo, he vows to anonymously (as to not get expelled again) break each and every rule the principal has set.  At home his life is not much better. Mom is dating a total freeloading jerk who hates kids. Rafe and his little sister do the best they can to stick together and get through life. Overall its been a rough few years for Rafe.

To be honest, I was up in the air on if I even wanted to see this one. I wasn’t sure I would be able to empathize with any of the characters of this age group. This movie is rated PG, but I feel the overall story line is superb. The pranks that are pulled in this movie are hysterical, and the dramatic parts are well highly dramatic. This movie had me in tears at the end.  This movie is based off of The Worst Years of My Life by James Paterson and Chris Tebbetts. Although I have yet to read the book, I suspect it will dive into the educational system structure and flaws in a comical manner.

The Last Adventure of Constance Verity By A. Lee Martinez

indexBook–This skewering of the adventure genre follows Constance Verity, an adventurer since childhood who was blessed (or cursed, if you ask Constance) by a fairy godmother at birth to live an exciting life full of adventure and die a glorious death. Similar to how Poirot stumbles on murder mysteries even while on vacation, Constance’s life is never far from adventure. Her job interviewer turns out to be a member of a strange cult, her biology teacher is part of a vast conspiracy, and since adventure is par for the course of her life, Constance is perpetually exhausted, trusts no one, and suspects everyone of hidden motives. When your whole life is adrenaline and excitement, monotony and ordinariness become sacred. In a quest for an ordinary life, Constance and her best friend Tia set off, ironically, on an adventure, with the goal of murdering her fairy godmother and thus hopefully shedding her blessing/curse.

Part of the fun of this book is all of the crazy adventures that Tia and Constance refer to in their dialog and the loving way that Martinez sends up the classics of adventure.  This book is the start of a series, so it’s probably actually NOT the “last adventure” of Constance Verity.

100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

51OY+Ih8XLL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_Book – Allan Karlsson is turning 100 and minutes before his birthday party at the nursing home, he makes a last-minute getaway through his bedroom window. He wanders to the nearby train station and purchases a train ticket to take him to a destination as far away as possible. While waiting for the train, an uncouth young man asks him to watch his suitcase while he “takes a dump.” Allan agrees and then is forced to make a quick decision when the train arrives before the young man returns. As Allan is discovered missing, it seems like everyone is looking for him while he meanders his way through villages, adventures and mishaps. Along the way, he meets other characters, including a lifetime scholar turned hot-dog vendor, a self-declared thief, a beauty with a colorful vocabulary, a gangster boss and a lonely policeman. During his journey, Allan reflects on his past, which in Forrest Gump fashion, led him to encounters with famous people including Mao Tse-Tung, President Truman and Stalin. This lively accounting of Allan’s life made me reflect on historical events. While Allan was entertaining, he was not a particularly appealing character to me. He was resourceful, but somehow left a lot of dead people behind, which didn’t seem to trouble him at all. The DVD (same title) is also available for check-out at the Library.

Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer

SpontaneousCoverBook – Imagine this: you are sitting in your pre-calc class and suddenly, without warning, your classmate a couple rows ahead of you spontaneously combusts. Blood and guts are everywhere. For a second, nobody moves, still in shock over the event. Then panic. Police are called, questions are asked. A funeral is held, everyone cries and mourns the loss of young life. Then everyone turns to moving on, healing. But then someone else blows up during a group therapy session. Then another a few weeks later. Nobody has an answer. All anyone seems to know is that it for some reason its only seniors from this small suburb of New Jersey that are spontaneously combusting.

Now you may be thinking: ‘Why in the world should I read this book? That story line sounds dark and depressing. I do not want to read about teens dying!’ I’ll tell why, cause its one of those books that you will stay up till 2 o’clock in the morning in order to finish. The narrator Mara draws you into the story of the worst year of her life. You WANT and NEED to find out what is going on with the teens. Yes, the story line is dark and kinda of depressing, but it really touches on death and living each day. Spontaneous is a book that you will soon not forget.

Beachside/Stormy Day Reads

Books – Whether the sun is finally shining bright, or you’re cooped up inside because of the restless weather, these two reads are perfect for relaxing indoors and out.  Save one for the beach, and one for the rain!

good in bedGood In Bed: A Novel by Jennifer Weiner

Meet Cannie Shapiro, a quirky young  woman navigating through her twenties.  A talented reporter for the Philadelphia Examiner, Cannie has made a good life for herself, and her adorable pup, Nifkin.   Things might not be perfect, but that’s life, right? Until her ex-boyfriend Bruce humiliated her by publishing an article about her, titled: “Loving a Larger Woman.”  Somehow, the article manages to catapult miserable Cannie into the best time of her life.  With surprises around every corner, could Bruce’s article actually be the best thing to ever happen to Cannie?

copygirl Copygirl by Anna Mitchael and Michelle Sassa 

Described as “Mad Men meets The Devil Wears Prada,” this book was obviously at the top of my list.  Kay works at a prestigious ad agency in New York City, an incredible opportunity.  But it’s hard being a girl in a sea of frat-boy office bros. At least she has her work partner Ben, a close friend from college who she’s also secretly in love with.  While the guys are off living the glamorous life of partying and girls, Kay is working hard to dream up the perfect pitches.  Lately though, her work just hasn’t been paying off, and her boss is breathing down her neck with threats of replacing her.  The last thing Kay wants is to be a copygirl, but things are going downhill fast.  Does she have what it takes to make it to the top?

 

 
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