Thursday, November 01, 2012

October Books

The Borrower: A Novel by Rebecca Makkai (library ebook)- I don't know, my friends. If you (spoiler) kidnap a kid, shouldn't there be more consequences?

Delusion in Death by J. D. Robb (Kindle book) - I keep saying I'm done with this series, but these In Death books are like my crack. I am fully away that these books are no longer good or creative, but I can't stop myself. 

The Next Always (Book One of the Inn Boonsboro Trilogy) and The Last Boyfriend (Book Two of the Inn Boonsboro Trilogy) by Nora Roberts (Kindle books) - I was traveling. There is my excuse for devolving back into trashy books. I wasn't getting enough sleep, I wasn't eating correctly, and I was trying to deal with the masses of STUFF at my mom's house (Special Edition of Hoarders brought to you by NGS as she struggles to find enough clear horizontal space to place her suitcase) and I just reverted back to Nora Roberts. It's typical Nora Roberts fare - three friends are going to find love in the space of three years, get married, and live happily ever after. It made me happy and yes, I'm going to get the third book as soon as it comes out.

Unbreak my Heart by Melissa Walker (library ebook) - Things that annoyed me about this book. 1. It's hard to feel badly for someone who gets to go on a sailing trip all summer long. Poor little rich girl. 2. It's hard to feel badly for someone who could have solved all her problems by simply talking to her friend. 3. It's hard to feel badly for someone is as self-absorbed as our main character is, although she was a teenage girl, so I'm willing to give her some slack.  You don't have to read this book. Your life will be fine without it.

Something Like Normal by Trish Doller (library ebook) - I wanted to love this book. There are many things to love about it - a great portrayal of a soldier coming back from war, a family torn apart by life and death, and descriptions of interpersonal relationships that made you feel like you were there. But I wanted more than just a twee romance to help Travis, our main character. I wanted him to get support from family and friends and not have it devolve into another "the love of your life will save you" book because, look, for many of those soldiers coming home, that isn't reality. I get that the romance adds hope and happiness in an otherwise emotionally intense novel, but couldn't we get that hope and happiness from an outside source that soldiers can control like a love of spaghetti westerns, animals, or growing orchids?

Room by Emma Donoghue (library audiobook read by Michael Friedman, Ellen Archer, Robert Petkoff, and Suzanne Toren) - Regardless of what you actually think about this book, the performance of the voice actors was amazing. The book is told from the POV of a child, so if you easily get annoyed with adults attempting to sound like kids, you might dislike it, but I thought the performances were arresting. The material was dark and disturbing, but the audiobook is definitely worth a listen, particularly if, like me, you have a long commute.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (library ebook) - I guess it's not the author's fault that the entire time I was reading this book, I was having flashbacks to the M. Night Shyamalan movie The Village, but I did, so I couldn't really immerse myself into this world.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (library ebook) - Meh.

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson (library ebook) - Yet another YA book that made we want to scream "where are the parents?" loudly, over and over and over again.

Emerge by Lila Felix (Kindle book) -  I guess it's a pet peeve of mine that there are all these books out there about young girls with horrible lives for one reason or another - horrible home lives, bullying, eating disorders, injury/disfigurement, whatever - and the only possible solution to the problem is to find a guy who will make it right.  I LOVE a good love story, but to be in love - madly, deeply, truly in love - you have to fix what's wrong with you first.  It doesn't go the other way.


Graceling by Kristin Cashore (library ebook) and Fire by Kristin Cashore (library book) - These are really great YA fantasy novels. I really loved Fire and just devoured the descriptions of setting.  Cashore does a great job of somehow introducing us to the world without having an obvious expository character or having the narrator just flat out tell us everything. I really enjoyed these books.  They are "companions" to one another and you don't have to read one to understand what's going on in the other, but I bet you can't just read one. 

Impossible by Nancy Werlin (library e-audiobook read by Emily Durante) - I am really starting to intensely dislike the "boy will save girl from everything that's wrong in her life" theme.  Two other annoying things about this song are that you will be singing Scarborough Fair to yourself whether you want to or not and my husband had to spend approximately 9093048920 hours formatting the iPod to allow it to play the audiobook I downloaded from Overdrive. That is all.

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa (library ebook)- I liked this book.  I thought the main character was developed well and most of the other characters were, as well. The pacing dragged a bit at times (how long did we spend in the hospital?!), but it was pretty good overall.  Of course, you do have to like vampire novels to get into this, so that's something to note.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (library ebook)- Is there a more annoying character than Colin in modern young adult fiction?  I didn't think so.  I know John Green is a popular YA novelist, but I haven't been overwhelmed by his writing.  I've been trying to get The Fault in our Stars from the library, but it's always checked out, but maybe it will convert me into a Green fan.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (library audiobook read by Stefan Rudnicki and Harlan Ellison) - This is a sci-fi classic and some folks on Facebook recommended it when I put out a call for books a 16-year old boy might like.  It's targeted audience is definitely male.  I am undecided about this book, but I did grab Speaker for the Dead, the next installment of the Ender series, the next time I went to the library, so it did have some staying power for me.

1 comment:

  1. I'm glad you enjoyed Graceling and Fire. I really liked them, too. I liked Ender's Game a lot. Speaker for the Dead is interesting, but more philosophical and Xenophobia is really philosophical. Then later he returns to the Ender World with Ender's Shadow and a couple others. I enjoyed those more, but if you didn't love Ender's Game, I don't know how much you'd like them.

    Another Orson Scott Card books that I liked is Songbird (I reread it every couple years). It's a stand-alone book.

    ReplyDelete

 
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