Nose in a Book

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Miles is off to boarding school in search of his “Great Perhaps.”  Once there he meets Alaska Young – beautiful, smart, fun-loving and moody – and of course falls for her.  Then something really bad happens and Miles must find a way to deal with it.

The book is divided into Before and After so you kind of know right from the beginning that something bad is going to happen.  I think I’ll start with what I didn’t like about this book so I can finish off on a positive note.  I have just recently read Paper Towns by the same author and while I did like Looking for Alaska better, I felt like the characters, especially the female leads, were very similar – too similar.  I also have another of Green’s books sitting in my tbr pile and it makes me wonder if the characters in it will also be the same.  I loved the characters in Paper Towns but finding them so similar in this book worries me that Green can only write one type of character.  (We’ll see how the third book works out.)

Okay, now for the good.  John Green can really write.  I love the flow in his stories.  I love the way he develops his characters and I love the wit he includes in his books.  I found myself laughing out loud at the thoughts and words of his characters.  I also loved the characters.  I found Alaska to be a bit annoying sometimes but she was real.  The story was also real.  That’s why I liked this one better than Paper Towns.  It was much more realistic.  (I, myself, have never gone to boarding school so maybe it actually isn’t all that realistic, but it felt honest to me.)

All in all, it was a good book, definitely worthwhile reading.  (As if you need me to tell you that, see that gold sticker on the cover?  It won the Printz award.)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series by Rick Riordan

I’ve just finished reading this series with my seven year old son.   I’m going to get him to help me with the review.

First of all, I’m not sure I need a summary or how to go about that with an entire series so I’ll just give you the basic premise.  So, Percy Jackson is a half-blood, meaning that one of his parents is a Greek god.  Because, the Greek gods do exist and are still around.

I really enjoyed reading these books to my son.  I was worried that they would get too old for him as the series progressed but they didn’t.  (They were getting there.  My son is pretty mature for his age and I’m not sure my second son will be able to appreciate them at that age.)  I really liked this about them.  I would love to read Harry Potter to my son but I think they just get too dark in the last few books but I would like to read him the whole series at once so I’ll be holding off on them.  That’s one thing I really appreciated about these books.

They were definitely entertaining.  And sometimes I find that a series of books like this gets old or tired by the end of the series and I’m just reading to find out what happens, but that wasn’t the case with these.  In fact, I think they got better over the series.

We also learned a lot about Greek mythology.  It also made me realize how much Greek mythology is still present in our society today.  Isaiah (my son) has started noticing Greek letters everywhere and names of the gods also.   He’s also given everyone in the family a godly title.  For example, I’m the goddess of books and reading!

Here’s what Isaiah had to say about the books:

“I liked them because there were lots of battles and quests.  They were exciting.  I learned lots about the Greek gods and some letters from the Greek alphabet.”

“My favourite book was the 4th one (The Battle of the Labyrinth) because they went into the Labyrinth and time went by really fast.”

“My favourite character was Percy because he was the main character.  My favourite god was Zeus because he can control the sky.  He shot lots of lightning bolts at the bad guys.”

Overall, this was a great series for us to read together.  Now, I just have to find something else for us to read.  Any suggestions??

Paper Towns by John Green

John Green is another one of those authors that I would totally be missing out on if it weren’t for book blogs.  (And I would be missing out on Brotherhood 2.0, which I discovered by reading the inside back cover of the book and since then I’ve been watching all the Brotherhood 2.0 videos.)

Anyway, I’d seen this book floating around the bloggy world so when I spotted it at the library I just decided to pick it up and I’m glad I did!  I can’t wait to read some more John Green.  Looking for Alaska is waiting for me at the library, but I have a few other books lined up first.

Anyway, Q and Margo live next door to each other and were friends when they were younger but haven’t spoken in a few years when one night, she appears at his window and takes him on a crazy night of revenge against a cheating boyfriend and back stabbing friends.  The next morning she is gone and Q in convinced that he can find following a set of clues she left behind.  I can’t say more than that without giving away too much (and I fear I have already!)

This was a fun book to read and I definitely enjoyed it.  For some reason I’m having a hard time writing about this book though.  I’m not sure why.  I liked it and I will for sure be reading more John Green.  I think I may have waited too long to write this review though.  I think this review is getting kind of lame though so I’ll think I’ll just leave it there.

The one thing I didn’t like about the book?  The cover.  I think it’s supposed to be Margo but that’s not what she looked like in my mind so there was always kind of a disconnect when I picked up the book.

I’ve seen this cover around the internet also and I think it works so much better.  I don’t know anything about this other cover though…is it from another country or is it the paperback cover or what?  Can anyone help me out?

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

Sarah Dessen is one of those authors I probably wouldn’t ever have discovered if it weren’t for book blogs.  As soon as I got into the world of book blogs though, her name kept popping up.  And yet, it’s taken me since April of last year to finally pick one up!  Now that I have, I will definitely be reading more though.

It’s the first day of school and Annabel is nervous.  Something happened last spring(which the reader doesn’t find out about until much later in the novel) that caused a rift between Annabel and her friends.  At lunch, she finds herself, alone, sitting near a mysterious, intimidating boy.  This becomes their routine, never speaking but always eating lunch “together”.  Eventually, of course, Annabel and the boy begin talking and find themselves becoming friends.  Also, as the semester goes on she faces what happened last spring and learns some things about herself along the way.

I loved this book.  It was exactly what I was expecting.  It was kind of like chick lit but YA, so maybe YA chick lit?  It was nothing super profound or anything but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the point.   It was just a fun, entertaining story.  And it was well written.  (To me, there is nothing more unforgivable than poor writing, in ANY genre.)  I’m not sure what else to say about this book because it was perfect.  I can’t think of anything I disliked (except maybe the cover.  When I googled the cover I found that there was a much better one out there.  Too bad my copy didn’t have that one!)

Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

So my friend started reading these books and told me they were really fun and she’s gotten so caught up in the series, I just had to try it out!

Jessica Darling is a sophomore in high school and her BFF has just moved halfway across the country.  The book is written as if it’s her journal which is a style I normally hate but it works in this book.  The plot is just about her teenage, high school angst which again I normally hate but totally works in this case.  I think it’s because Jessica is so self-aware  – she knows she’s angsty and pokes fun at herself for being so melodramatic.

It actually took me a bit to get into the book but once I did, I was hooked.  It’s been a while since I’ve been in high school but reading this book is like reading some of my old journals.  The emotions Jessica experiences, the situations she finds herself in – she reminds me of teenage me!  Except she’s way wittier than I ever was.  And her observations about her peers?  Hilarious!

This book was so fun and real and easy to read.  I’ve already read the second one and can’t wait to get my hands on the remaining three!

Would You by Marthe Jocelyn

Read for: Canadian Books Challenge

This book is about a teenage girl whose sister is seriously injured when she is hit by a car and the week immediately following the accident.  The book was really short and there really wasn’t much more to it.

I didn’t really like this book.  I think it needed more.  I think I know what the author was trying do with this novel but it needed more depth, more character development, more time.  After reading a book, I like to feel I’ve been entertained or that I learned something or that I gained some new understanding but after reading this one I felt none of that.  I don’t want to sound rude but I’m not really sure what the point of this book was.  It was well written and if there had been more depth of the characters and the story I could see it being a really good book.  As it is though, it just didn’t do anything for me.

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

Read for: RIP IV Challenge

This is the third (and I believe final) book in The Mortal Instruments series.  (The first two book are called City of Bones and City of Ashes.)

I can’t say I enjoyed this one as much as the first two.  Clary is still trying to revive her mother and Valentine is still on the loose.  The group plans to head to Idris to find a warlock who has the key to saving Clary’s mom and to chat with the Clave about what needs to be done to stop Valentine.  The foreshadowing about Jace and Clary not actually being siblings gets stronger and stronger and eventually the truth is out.  I won’t give away anything more than that but more readers will have realized long ago that they weren’t actually related.  And of course, through much trial and tribulation, Valentine is defeated as well and everybody lives happily ever after.  We all knew it  had to end that way right?  The interesting part is how it all gets resolved.

It definitely took me a lot longer to get involved in the story this time.  I found certain parts of the beginning of the novel infuriating.  Jace and Clary both are quite annoying with all their angsty selfishness.  But then the plot gets rolling and you can almost forget about their more irritating qualities.   Somehow, parts of this book seemed more rushed too (even though it’s the longest of the three at almost 600 pages) and some of the plot lines were slightly less believable (even though it’s about vampires and werewolves and such) than the previous two books.  I just sort of felt like maybe the deadline was approaching and Clare didn’t get as much time as she needed to polish some of the storylines as much as was required.

That being said though, I still found it to be entertaining and well written and definitely a good gothic type read if that kind of thing interests you.

Dancing with Ana by Nicole Barker

Dancing with Ana is a young adult novel about a girl in high school who decide she is overweight and needs to go on a diet.  Immediately she begins starving herself.  There is also a subplot about a friend of hers that has an issue with her mother and is afraid of the ocean.

Now, I’m not really an expert on eating disorders or abusive parents but it all seemed a little bit too easy and wrapped up a little too nicely at the end.  I found the character development was shallow and the characters unrealistic.  I realize that I am not the target audience for this novel but I still had a hard time making myself finish it.

The book dealt with a serious issue (two, if you count the abusive mother subplot) but it was just so cheesy that it was hard to take seriously.  It just seemed a little too easy for Beth (the main character) to decide that she was ok with the way her body looked.  This book really had potential to be something more but in my opinion it missed the boat.   I also found the writing style to be off-putting.  I can’t really put my finger on what bothered my about it, but it was just a low level read.  Not simple and eloquent, just simple…

Anyway, I really didn’t enjoy this book but I do have one good thing to say about it.  For a book with obviously such a low publishing budget, I was amazed at the lack of spelling and grammatical errors.  I’ve read books with huge promotional budgets from major publishers with more errors than this book had.  Kudos to the editor!

Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel (sequel to Airborn)

Read for: Canadian Books Challenge

This one was almost as good as the first one.  Right from the first page it was action, action, action!  This time around the legendary ship Hyperion has been spotted in the air and Matt is the only one who knows the coordinates.  The Hyperion is rumoured to be carrying a fortune in gold.  And whoever gets to it first gets to keep the riches.  The Hyperion is also said to contain quite a nice collection of animal artifacts, which surprise, surprise, Kate is dying to get her hands on.  The only problem is that the Hyperion is drifting at an impossible height so Matt and Kate have to find someone to help them who owns a very specialized ship.  And of course, Matt, Kate and their two new companions aren’t the only ones on the world searching for the Hyperion. So you can imagine all the action and adventure that is packed into this novel.

If I hadn’t just read the first book I don’t think I would have found this one to be lacking at all.  But since I did just read it, yesterday, I remembered the suspense and tension I felt while reading Airborn.  But Skybreaker was still amazingly entertaining.  I’m already deep into the third book of this trilogy and loving it just as much.  Of course, there’s a little bit of romance thrown into these books, but it’s done well.  There are no over-the-top declarations of love and it doesn’t seem to be an add-on to the plot.  It flows well with the story, without taking over.  And I love Oppel’s writing.  He has a way of describing things that allows me to see the events unfolding in my mind without getting too bogged down in long, flowery explanations.  This one gets a 10/10 too.

Other Reviews:

• Canuck Librarian
• A Book a Week
• Goddess Librarian
• The Inter-Galactic Playground

Did I miss yours?  Please post a link in the comments.

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel

Read for: Canadian Books Challenge

Why haven’t I read this sooner?!  I loved the Silverwing books and somehow I just forgot about Kenneth Oppel.  Then just last week I read a review somewhere (sorry, I can’t remember where) for the third book in this series and remembered that Oppel is Canadian and realized I’d better get on these books! I read this book in a day and I couldn’t put it down!

Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on a luxury cruise ship but this cruise ship doesn’t float in the ocean, it floats over the ocean!  From the first page Matt and the crew on the Aurora are in for some major adventure.  And just when one mishap (or worse) seems to be just about cleared up, something else comes along to cause more mayhem and definitely some of the most captivating story I’ve read in a long time.  I don’t want to give anything away about what happens to Matt and the rest of the crew so I guess that’s going to have to be my summary for this one!

Not only was this book very well written, it really was adventure from start to finish.  And I just felt like I was right there in the middle of it.  And it was truly unpredictable, I was never sure what was going to happen next.  As I read, my heart was pounding, I was chewing on my thumbnail the suspense was so great!  (And it’s not often a book can do this to me!)

Overall this book was amazing.  My library had it shelved in the juvenile section but I’m not sure it should be there.  Not that there is any mature themes or anything, I’m just not sure a younger child could understand everything that went on.  (And there were people killed in the book.)  All I’m saying is that I wouldn’t read it to my 6 year old.  I remember the Silverwing books to be aimed at a younger audience.  Overall I would give this book a 10/10.  I’m so glad I have the next two sitting on my night stand waiting to be read!

Other reviews:

• Bart’s Bookshelf