Running Loose - Chris Crutcher

Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

CATEGORY: REQUIRED

Running Loose is about a teenage boy who has everything, a girlfriend and a spot on the football team that will hopefully get him a scholarship for college. And while everything is going great, one other football team is challenging their undefeated status. In order to win, their coach encourages them to injure the other team's star player. Louis tries to argue with his coach but is thrown onto the field anyway. His other teammates go ahead and injure the star player and Louis leaves the game. After accusing the coach of setting that up and then being told that he was lying, he decided to quit the football team. Shortly after, his girlfriend dies in a car accident. Eventually as a way to deal with his loss, he joins the track team.

As a sports novel it delicately deals with racism and loss. The protagonist uses his sports as a way to learn and to grow, and most importantly to heal. There's a really interesting image at one point in this novel; the protagonist and an older man are playing a game of checkers and discussing religion at the same time. Louis is upset with God and when Louis gets bored with the game, the old man explains this sport analogy to him saying that if life was easy, we'd get bored and we wouldn't want to do it. Life needs to be messy, and hard, and complicated because that makes it worth it.

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We Were Here - Matt de la Peña

We Were Here by Matt de la Pena
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

CATEGORY: REQUIRED AUTHOR

We Were Here is the story of a half-Mexican, half-American kid who gets into trouble. The story follows this coming-of-age novel as the protagonist, Miguel, experiences juvi and then a group home. In both of these places he makes unexpected allies. The three of them break out of the group home and begin on their adventure south towards the Mexican border. The intention is to start anew in Mexico, away from their troubled pasts. The novel is written as the journal entries that the judge required of Miguel as part of his sentence and we don't find out what he did to get stuck in a group home until the very end of the novel. The novel follows these three boys as they travel down California. And as they go they learn new things about each other, making friends in the most unexpected places, and develop a crucial understanding of their lives and the reasons for what they did.

We Were Here was a beautiful coming-of-age novel that shows the healing process of grief. De le Peña does a good job of writing his characters realistically and giving them a sense of depth that is difficult to do in YA literature. The novel itself sometimes felt kind of slow going but that meant that as a reader you were able to sit and process what you read. It was different from other YA lit, in a good way.

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All the Truth That's in Me - Julie Berry

All the Truth That's in Me by Julie Berry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

CATEGORY: REQUIRED AUTHOR

Berry's All the Truth That's in Me is about a young girl who was kidnapped and then returned home with her tongue cut out. I'm assuming that the novel is set in recently colonised America, at least that's the vibe I got as a reader. However, that fact is never fully revealed. The novel is all about Judith's struggle in readjusting to life at home. The town outcasts her because of her inability to speak but Judith, through the help of Maria, finds the ability to talk again. The book is written from the point-of-view of Judith but directed at her childhood friend, now turned love interest. As this develops so does Judith's will to share the truth of what happened in regards to her kidnapping and her friend's murder.

I have to admit that for the longest time I avoided reading this book. My roommate had suggested it to me previously but I judged it by its cover! When we had to read a Julie Berry novel for my YA lit class I finally caved in and read it. And I really liked it. The novel is totally what you wouldn't expect and very unique in the YA world. And although it has the cliché romance element to it, the romance is nuanced and the novel focuses more on Judith's growth and development with the entire town in her endeavour to tell the truth.

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The Sea of Trolls

The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

CATEGORY: REQUIRED AUTHOR, FANTASY

The Sea of Trolls is much different from Nancy Farmer's more well known fantasy novel, House of the Scorpion. While both are fantasy, Farmer shows her ability to write from a wide range of sources. The Sea of Trolls follows the adventures of a young saxon boy, Jack, who is kidnapped by vikings, or the Beserkers, who have the ability to descend into a wolf-like madness. Jack saves the thrall lives of himself and sister by proving that he has the abilities of a bard, magic. Once he finally reaches his Viking captors home, he causes problems my accidentally magicking the half-troll queen's hair to fall off. Jack, and his frenemy, Thorgil, must travel to Jotunheim, the land of the trolls, battle dragons, and talk to crows, in order to reach a well that supposedly has the power to grant Jack the magic he needs to fix the half-troll viking queen's hair and save his little sister Lucy.

I was surprised at how easily Farmer was able to write believable fantasy from multiple cultures. House of the Scorpion is set in a futuristic Mexico while The Sea of Trolls cleverly employs old English and Viking lore to tell a story that seems much more like the typical fantasy adventure. And although it may appear to be typical fantasy literature, Farmer does a good job of reinventing the quest story. Her characters while battling dragons and giant spiders, also struggle with gender equality, insanity, serious viking anger issues and contrasting religions and cultures. Farmer does an excellent job of portraying good and evil as a grey area, her characters are people and not heroes and villains. I would say that the novel is epic fantasy for a younger audience.

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Got this baby in the mail today courtesy of Goodreads First Reads. Nothing quite makes my day like a book in the mail, especially when it's free. :D

This is The Revelation of Gabriel Adam, by S. L. Duncan. It's supposed to be a whole new take on the whole angel theme that seems to be gaining popularity in the world of YA. And I'm actually excited to read this one. So, I might count it towards the bjillion YA books I have to read for school this semestre. That way I will actually right a review in a timely manner.

Here is the Goodreads link in case you're interested.

Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World

Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance by Jennifer Armstrong
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World, by Jennifer Armstrong, really is the extraordinary true story of Shackleton and the Endurance. The non-fiction book tells the story of one man's dream to trek across the Antarctic. Right before World War I, the crew set out on their adventure and despite the rumours of war they were told to carry on and continue their journey. However, the adventure they had planned never worked out and they were forced to suffer through another, more dangerous, one. Due to thicker ice than expected their ship, the Endurance, eventually was frozen into the ice and the men had to disembark and begin their journey, dragging lifeboats, by foot. This book tells of the struggles of their journey as their group slowly split up until only Shackleton and two others reached their initial starting point on South Georgia Island. Shackleton then sent rescue boats back for his remaining crew in two different locations. All of them miraculously survived this treacherous trek across the frozen ocean.

I really enjoyed this book. Armstrong did well in combining the facts she had researched and gathered with a healthy narrative making the story entertaining and hard to put down. She included random quotes from other books about the Endurance and this trip as well as conversation quoted directly from Shackleton's own diaries recording their misfortunes but amazing luck. This combined with original photos demonstrating the men's experiences was a clever way to make the story seem real and simultaneously something you would want to read and know more about.

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Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Eleanor is the eldest of five children and lives with all of them in a single room while her abusive step father intimidatingly rules the home. Park is from a well off family whose parents are still very much in love. The two high school students meet untowardly on the bus to school and for a while ignore each other completely keeping a healthy six inches between them. Eleanor soon becomes the reject in school, struggling with all sorts of bullying whereas Park is respected, although he would have you believe that's only so because he dated the right people in middle school. However, Eleanor begins to read Park's comics over his shoulder and then starts their relationship. As the two misfits spend more and more time with each other they fall more deeply in love sharing aspects of each other that wouldn't have dreamed sharing with others. Park becomes really defensive and for a while manages to subside the bullying that Eleanor is struggling with. However, they can't seem to figure out who keeps writing the awful phrases that keep appearing on Eleanor's notebooks. After coming home one day Eleanor discovers that the culprit is her abusive step father and with the help of Park and some other unexpected friends, including Park's father, they manage to help Eleanor run away to her uncle's house in another state.

Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park creates the most unexpected love story between two unassuming people. There was a good depth to her characters and the events that occurred in her novel are very probable and because of these two aspects the reality of this book kept me interested. However, the romance seemed kind of unrealistic. At first, it felt right. The hand touching and stealing glances at each other when they were sure the other one wasn't looking. That was all very reminiscent of middle and high school relationships but the speed at which is developed from that to Park declaring his love for Eleanor felt wrong and almost like a move to increase the drama and keep the plot moving. Every other thing about their relationship felt right. Even after Eleanor had left, the reactions that both protagonists had to the situation worked well.

I really enjoyed the way Rowell wrote the novel alternating between the two protagonist's/lover's perspective that worked really well, but I think I like her other novel, Fangirl more.

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The Outsiders

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ponyboy Curtis is a 14 year old orphan living with his two older brothers in the poorer neighbourhood of their town. They find a sort of extended family with the other boys in the neighbourhood and take the name of 'greasers.' As greasers, with long hair and switchblades for show hidden in their pockets they become a sort of inbetween. They are not quite hoods but always find themselves at blows with the upper social class, the 'socs.' In a rumble between Ponyboy, Johnny, and some socs, Johnny stabs one of the socs. Now on the run, the boys get to know each other better and soon come to more deeply understand the personalities and relationships of their brothers. As well as the personalities of the socs. After an incident in which the church burns down, Johnny and Pony find themselves heroes of the community despite being greasers. However, this doesn't last long and one death follows another until ridden with post-traumatic stress, Ponyboy's teacher asks him to write an essay in which he theoretically writes the whole novel.

The first time I ever read this novel, I can't have been more than fourteen myself. So, it's been a while since the first time I sat down to read this book. Previously, I had it rated with only three stars because it had been so long that I had forgotten what really went on in S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. It was nice reading it again after so many years, it felt like I was reunited with an old friend and although the story was familiar I had read it long enough ago that I had forgotten what happened. I really didn't like the ending. It felt like a cop-out and not a cleverly written one at that. However, despite the ending, S.E. Hinton did a good job of writing a story that was and could be relatable throughout the years that it has been on the market. She wrote her characters really well, in that they felt real. They felt three-dimensional.

Reminiscent of Peter Pan in staying gold and never growing up.

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Puzziling Mr Penumbra

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Being an art/humanities student I have been taught well the old saying to 'never judge a book by its cover,' but again being an art/humanities student I often ignore that advice.

I have a problem. When I travel, I open my carry-on luggage only to get weird looks from people who are judging the pile of books that I lug around all over the place. When I'm home that pile of books crowds my bookshelves and side tables only to overflow onto almost every flat surface in my apartment meanwhile slowly accumulating even more. I collect books. I collect them for both their story and their worth as a piece of art and more times often than not I will pick up a book and peruse it for a little while solely because of its cover. I don't rely only on this when I actually buy a book but it's the cover that pulls my attention first.

So, when deciding on what to read next, I have to admit that I was initially drawn to Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore because I really liked the cover art. However, I did stumble across it while looking through the October '13 Indie Next List and I then looked up reviews before I bought it so my obsession with book art can't be all that bad.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore is a novel about a man named Clay Jannon who finds himself unemployed in the middle of an economic crisis. With no apparent direction in life he stumbles across Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore while dawdling down the streets of San Francisco. Drawn to the idea of having a job, Clay soon finds himself caught in the midst of the parallel realities between literature and technology and the interesting people who come hand-in-hand with both industries. Part-humor, part-mystery, part-love story, part-adventure; it has a little bit of everything.

If you open this one, you'll soon find yourself caught up in the whirlwind that is Clay Jannon's new found existence. Sloan's writing reads easily and I found myself racing through this one. Not as fast as I would have liked because life has been busy but I often found myself nearing the end of the day and thinking, 'I really want to keep reading that book.' If you don't love it for the story, you will appreciate it for its admiration of knowledge. This is a book for book lovers.

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Entangled was Boring and Too Predictable.

Entangled by Nikki Jefford
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Entangled is the story of a witch's family living in the muggle-world. Unfortunately the twin sisters that become Entangled, Graylee and Charlene Perez, don't appeal to the audience as much as Fred and George Weasley did.

Graylee wakes up one morning to find out that she has been dead for a couple of weeks. On the same day she also discovers that she has been reincarnated into her twin sister's body. The quick novel tells of the strain the mishap puts on the already polar opposite personalities that the sisters have. While trying to maintain romantic relationships for both girls, Graylee finds herself in a whirlwind of chaos as she spends the novel trying to separate herself from her sister's body.

Entangled is fine if you have nothing else to read and/or like to scour the free kindle books off Amazon. However, I wouldn't recommend it in general.

I read the free kindle version from Amazon.

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Definitely Read About Drizzt

The Crystal Shard by R.A. Salvatore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A close friend introduced me to R.A. Salvatore in high school. She lent me her copy of The Dark Elf Trilogy which I quickly devoured. Unfortunately due to the stress and chaos of moving from high school to university in another country I never read past the third book until I was home for the summer and found it hiding on the bottom shelf in the Fantasy section.

What?

The Crystal Shard is an excellent novel both by itself and with the entire series. The novel continues on with the adventures of the beloved Drizzt as well as introducing the amazing Wulfgar. It begins their friendship while they battle an otherworldly power that threatens the simple happiness they crave. It is a tale of good vs. evil and also one of breaking through racial stereotypes and discovering who you are as an individual despite whatever cultural background you might have. On top of this, The Legend of Drizzt is just a great fantasy saga in general. Getting lost in the Forgotten Realms with the aid of R.A. Salvatore will entertain you for hours.

Definitely read it, whether you're into fantasy or not. It is a must read.

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The Handmaid's Tale and Warning

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood is a fascinating potential outcome for American society. Atwood links her talent of writing science fiction with the world we know today in such a way that it seems possible. Not that we want The Handmaid's Tale to become reality.

The Handmaid's Tale tells the story of Offred, her new name literally referring to the man she belongs to. Offred is what known as a breeder or a Handmaid. A woman whose sole use to reproduce in replace of the wife of the household. The Handmaid's Tale tells of the protagonist's mental struggle to accept this new form of hierarchy and is constantly on the lookout for her husband and daughter from before it all changed. Now she spends her day hiding behind the red of her dress; alien to tourists who stop to photograph them and loathsome to the wives but essential in their newfound culture.

The novel is considered a classic but might be found difficult to read due to its lack of quotation marks. However, it is often used in high schools alongside Orwell's 1984 and various other dystopian novels.

I personally enjoyed the novel. However, not a novel to just skim through. It is a novel that makes you think and requires you to pay attention. And for all the aspects that make it a classic, the aspects that attracted me to it in the first place, I really didn't like the ending. This is not a reflection on Atwood's ability to write but rather my affection of the happy ending, or at least an ending that secures lose ties. The Handmaid's Tale leaves you wanting to know more and Atwood leaves you hanging on the anxiety of this society and the creepy possibility of it happening to us.

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Life in Outer Space

Life in Outer Space by Melissa Keil
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have mixed feelings for this novel.

Life in Outer Space is the endearing YA flirty-teenage-girl-relationship kind of book. It's really quite cute to read and is a great debut novel on the behalf of Melissa Keil. I think any teenager girl would get a kick out of reading it as it is quite easy to devour in no time.

I recommend it for anyone who is just looking for an easy, uplifting read over the weekend but if you're looking for anything more substantial than that you may have to look elsewhere.

Glad to see Aussie authors doing stuff. :)

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A Book About Book Clubs and Book Lovers

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If I was dying of pancreatic cancer I probably would want to spend, not all but, a lot of my remaining time reading. The End of Your Life Book Club illustrates a woman who does exactly this. Written through the perspective of her son (who also happens to be the author), Will Schwalbe, we are taken on a journey that highlights the power of literature and the bond it can create between two people. In this case, mother and son.

I enjoyed reading this book, however, I so desperately wanted to love it and was unfortunately did not finish it with that outlook. I wanted the story to read more fluently and less like I was listening to an old woman recounting disjointed events from her past. Instead, it seemed to ennoble the mother, Mary Anne Schwalbe. I mean, I know that she is his mother but I wanted to love her character the same way he did and I didn't because she just seemed to perfect in her personality, her life and her embracement of her death. It's comforting to read a book and think that the character only succeeds in life if you keep reading because then you as the reader become a part of it. Even when reading memoirs or biographies if the highlighted character doesn't need you it becomes more difficult to keep reading and in your own way, be there for them.

However, despite all that Schwalbe pulls you into the scenario quite well. The concept of their private book club is what sells this book. The book's love of good books, bad books, new books, old books, any type of book that you enjoy reading for one aspect or another, really holds the reader in if they also happen to be a book worm by heart or by trade.

So, not my favourite biography/memoir but still a pretty decent one. One that gives you comfort in mourning and hope that life will go on.

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John Green's Romance with Geeky Boys

Looking for Alaska by John Green
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Miles and Alaska. Colin and Katherine. Quentin and Margo. I have yet to read The Fault in Our Stars but I won't be surprised if I find the novel just about the same two characters with different names. Ironically, I bought The Fault in Our Stars first. I had heard good things about it and was anxious for a new book but as fate would have it and by a series of unrelated events I read Green's first three first.

Since I read Looking for Alaska first my opinion of it was untainted and I quite liked it. It's a good story with very entertaining characters and relationships. However, I couldn't decide where in fit in the age bracket because it is written like the atypical middle school fiction novel but then Green writes about concepts and themes that would be more suitable to a more matured high school audience. The downside to this novel is that the ending to the novel is highly anticipated but disappointedly poorly thought out.

Then I read An Abundance of Katherines with the notion that I would enjoy the quick read like I had its predecessor. I thought it was slightly better written but was a little downtrodden at its similarity to the first one only with useless and irksome math in the footnotes. If you want to read a book that helps you enjoy math, read The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa.

And then I read Paper Towns and finally my eyes opened up to pattern.

All I can say with regards to John Green; is that I hope, when I finally am able to read The Fault in Our Stars it surprises me and lives up to at least some of the expectations I had before I was educated in Green's favourite storyline.




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Branded with Repetition

Branded by Keary Taylor
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Jessica is branded. Branded with the condemnation, whether that be good or bad, of others.

The story, unfortunately, follows the tracks of Twilight and the fad of paranormal romance that is currently sweeping the world of middle schoolers. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Twilight the first time I read it. However, since its release every potentially intriguing novel I pick up fails me time and time again with their poorly photoshopped covers and Edward-Bella-Jacob love triangle. And this one simply followed suit. I want to label the novel as fantasy but it has literally become its own genre of 'paranormal romance' which I have decided that I don't like reading. I mean, come on, he just shows up at her house and then they develop a relationship almost a day later.

Despite this, it was a fast read and it did keep me occupied on an eight hour plane flight. If you do decide to read it, follow my example and download it free for your kindle off Amazon. Frankly, I just don't think it's worth the money as it is just a one time read novel.

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Throwback to Kenya

For my high-school years I had the opportunity to live in Nairobi, Kenya. So, reading this novel, A Guide to the Birds of East Africa, was quite the experience. It was great to have such a concrete visual in my mind of all the places mentioned in the book. They would go to Naivasha, and in my head, 'Oh! I've been there,' and the Muthaiga Club, 'Oh, that's where we had our senior prom.' To say the least, I really enjoyed reading this book.

Set in Nairobi, Kenya, is this unexpected love story told through the eyes of a birdwatcher. Drayson tells the tale of two rivals, Mr. Malik and Harry Khan, who in competing for the opportunity to ask the leader of the Tuesday-morning bird walk, Rose Mbikwa, to the annual Hunt Ball commence in this week long bird watch. Following each man's successes and downfalls, Drayson creates a story emphasising politics, love and friendship.

Nicholas Drayson's A Guide to the Birds of East Africa is an essential for anyone who has ever been to Kenya. The prose is excellent and the description of Nairobi's pros and cons is expertly translated into the written word. I would recommend this novel to anyone but at the same time, having lived in Kenya, you would get so much more out of it if you had already been to Nairobi.

Thumbs up.

Nicholas Drayson
A Guide to the Birds of East Africa: A Novel
Penguin Viking, 2008
202pp. £11.99
ISBN 9780670917587

Among the Hidden

Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

So much potential but disappointing.



The concept was great, however, when I finished the book it felt like I had read only the first chapter. The story had only just begun. I wanted to read more but I don’t want to have to go out and buy the next six books. It seems like a waste of trees. If the first book had continued on into the second and third books, I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more because the story would feel a lot more complete. As it is, it’s just too short. Unfinished.



On the back it says, “An ALA Best Book for Young Adults,” but if I gave this book to one of my peers they would hunt me down like a shadow child on the run from the population police. It felt more like a TV episode than a novel. Maybe, that’s the problem, it’s being considered a Young Adult novel and I think this is more something I would give to kid as his first chapter book.

I might read the next one but only because I’m curious as to how Haddix fixes it.

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Currently Devouring:   Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Next on the Menu:   The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson (I think it is about time I got on that boat)

Just Ate:   Among the Hidden, by Margeret Haddix but unsure whether or not to write a review on that one...

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I actually didn’t enjoy this one as much as I thought I would.

Usually I can read children’s books and be quite satisfied once I’m finished but this one just didn’t do it for me. The character’s goals were all noble but they all narrated every single step they made, Dorothy was too much of an annoying little girl, and there wasn’t as much literary depth as I wanted the book to have.

I thought it was decent and I understand that is supposed to be children’s fiction but if people rewrote books the same way we remake movies, this would be one of the rare few books I would like to see rewritten.

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