Follow Friday

Q: Best Cover? What is the best cover of a book that you’ve read and didn’t like?

A recent one that I read and hated, but whose cover is lovely is Unspoken by Sarah Brennan Rees.
The sheer ridiculousness that is this book is too much for me to describe in a few sentences but if you're interested in my review, you can read it here.
It's such a waste of a beautiful cover.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don't live to see the morning? In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

So I’m late with the whole Hunger Games obsession, I realize that, but I have to agree with the majority of people out there and say this is one fun book. It was a highly addictive read that had me turning pages at full speed.

Katniss is a great protagonist. She’s someone I really felt at ease with, someone I understood, which is one of the huge issues I usually have with YA books: I pretty much always dislike the female protagonist. But Katniss is a force of nature, with cunning and strength that makes her one of my favorites of the genre. Peeta is also fun, although he can get a little frustrating, and Haymitch, since he resembles Katniss in personality so much, is another that loved.

But of course, the plot here is king. The whole idea of the book, although not wholly original (Stephen King’s The Long Walk is a predecessor with an even more compelling cast of characters), is clever enough to keep us all guessing and wanting more. Some things, like the muttations at the very end, felt a bit contrived and the book would have been better without it, but on the whole, this is a fascinating book.

Now I’m off to start the second one!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Booking Through Thursday

Do you find yourself thinking that the books you read would be good on film? Do you wish the things you watched on TV or in the movies were available as book?

I hardly ever think any book should be made into a movie. The only time I can remember thinking that I couldn't wait to see a particular scene on film was when I was reading the final battle between Voldemort and Harry in Deathly Hallows. I was dying to see Ralph Fiennes in that last scene, and then they went and changed it in the movie trying to make it much more "epic" when it was much better the way it was written in the book. So I didn't really get to see the scene the way I imagined it.

No, I don't think I've ever wanted anything I've seen on tv to be made into books.

WWW Wednesdays

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently, I'm reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

And Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America by Jonathan Kozol

I just finished reading Math City by Ahmad Amani. You can read my review here.

Next, I'll probably read Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

From Fire in the Ashes by Jonathan Kozol

"Having lost so many years of education while he had been homeless-most of the children in the shelters, as I've noted, had seen their schooling interrupted frequently-his basic skills were already very low. His attendance was, in any case, haphazard."
pg. 18 (ARC)

Musing Mondays

What is the weirdest/strangest/craziest book you’ve read?

That would have to be House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. It is a strange, strange book, but one I really enjoyed. Briefly, it's about a family that moves into a house that is bigger on the inside than on the outside. But there's just no way of really explaining this novel. It's got wondeful moments of pure terror that made it a worthwhile book for me, but many people had issues with it. It's one of those books that you just have to try for yourself.

Stacking the Shelves

Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America by Jonathan Kozol

A Good and Happy Child by Justin Evans

Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin

Since her release from Liberty Children's Facility, Anya Balanchine is determined to follow the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, her criminal record is making it hard for her to do that. No high school wants her with a gun possession charge on her rap sheet. Plus, all the people in her life have moved on: Natty has skipped two grades at Holy Trinity, Scarlet and Gable seem closer than ever, and even Win is in a new relationship.But when old friends return demanding that certain debts be paid, Anya is thrown right back into the criminal world that she had been determined to escape. It’s a journey that will take her across the ocean and straight into the heart of the birthplace of chocolate where her resolve--and her heart--will be tested as never before.


Below, you can listen to an audio clip straight from the book!

What a disappointing sequel this book was. Although the first book had been far from perfect, it still kept me interested, while this one…not so much.

The main problem seems to be how contrived the storyline feels. If it were a marionette show, you’d see the strings being pulled. Everything is too coincidental. The trip to Mexico Anya suddenly takes makes little, if any sense, and the reader can see it was written mainly to get her to the next point in the story. It’s not fun reading books that are written as if following bullet points.

The other thing was the writing. The first book wasn’t what I’d consider well written, but it was loads better than this one. The constant asides Anya makes are nauseating and repetitive, to the point where I found myself skipping them altogether. She tended to be a bit repetitive, as well in her internal monologue. The author still continues with her disconcerting habit of telling us part of the conversations instead of actually having the dialogue. It’s baffling, especially when she’d waste less time and space just writing out the dialogue.

So, this is one I’d not recommend. It was dull reading indeed.

Follow Friday

Q: Worst cover? What is the worst cover of a book that you’ve read and loved?

 I've mentioned my love for Dragonlance book many times in the blog. The only thing that I've ever been a bit critical about these books are the covers. Not the new ones, which are pretty good, but the old editions. I mean, really, that's one bad, bad cover, as much as I love both characters on it.

Booking Through Thursday

Do you like to talk about what you read? Do you have somebody to talk WITH?

Most of the times, I love to discuss what I read. If it's an awesome book, I want to talk about it ad nauseum, and if it's a bad book, I love to diss it to my heart's content. My sister and my mom put up with my ramblings quite patiently, and of course this blog also lets me rant.

WWW Wednesdays

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently, I'm reading Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin

And Falling Immortality by Robert Downs

I just finished reading Bras, Boys, and Blunders by Vidya Samson. You can read my review here.

Next, I'll probably read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Finally made time for it!

Bras, Boys, and Blunders by Vidya Samson

What’s a girl gotta do to get her first bra, her first kiss, her first love?

If you thought the Middle East was all about fatwas and burkhas, think again. Join the fun as Veena, a naive teen from India, bungles her way through adolescence on the island of Bahrain. Laugh out loud as she deals with the intricacies of stubborn bras, crazy parents, racist classmates, first love, and the No-No Club, an abstinence club that degenerates into the Yes-Yes Club.

If you’ve ever struggled with body image issues, ever wanted to be different from what you are, ever wanted a hot guy or girl you couldn’t have, or if you just want a good laugh, this novel is for you, whether you’re nine, ninety, or anywhere in between.

This book’s premise is very amusing. An Indian girl who starts attending a Christian school. That’s pretty much all you need to hear to know it’s going to be an interesting read.

There are so many funny moments in the book. This is definitely a light read, but it is packed with well-written scenes and fun dialogue. The scene where Veena gets a haircut is one of the best ones, I think, and it show the author’s real gift for comedic pacing.

I would have enjoyed a bit more character development as the novella progresses, that is the one thing that left me a little disappointed. Veena is such an amusing character that I would have liked to have seen her mature a bit more. But I do recommend this novella, along with the author’s other book, Indian Maidens Bust Loose, if you enjoy a well-written, entertaining and fast-paced book.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

From Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin


"Evelyn Cobrawick greeted me, parting her painted red lips to reveal a cheerful sliver of yellow tooth. Was this meant to be a grin?"

pg. 3 (ARC)

Tiger Hills by Sarita Mandanna

As the first girl to be born into the Nachimanda family in over thirty-five years, the beautiful Devi is the object of adoration of her entire family. Spirited and strong-willed, she befriends the shy Devanna, a young boy whose mother has died in tragic circumstances. Together they grow up amidst the luscious jungles, rolling hills, and coffee plantations of Coorg in Southern India; cocooned by an extended family whose roots to this beautiful land can be traced for centuries. Their futures seem inevitably linked, but everything changes when, one night, they attend a 'tiger wedding'. It is there that Devi gets her first glimpse of Machu, the celebrated tiger killer and a hunter of great repute. Although she is still a child and Machu is a man, Devi vows to marry him one day. It is this love that will gradually drive a wedge between Devi and Devanna, sowing the seed of a devastating tragedy that will change the fate of all three - an event that has unforeseen and far-reaching consequences for generations to come.
Told in rich, lyrical prose and set against the background of a changing society, TIGER HILLS is a sweeping saga about one woman's determination to live life on her own terms — and a riveting novel about the choices we make in the name of family, nation, and love.

If you enjoy historical family sagas, then this book needs to be on your TBR list. It is a sweeping tale of love, hate, redemption and most importantly, forgiveness.

There is such beauty to this book. From the opening, with its lush descriptions of herons, to the very last page, it envelops you in an exotic landscape full of wonder. And that’s without even including the characters. But with this book, the land itself is another character, and a protagonist at that.

Devi, Devanna and Machu, the three main characters, are as beautifully written as the landscape. They are multi-dimensional creations that linger long after the reader finishes the book. Devi, in particular, tugs at you the longest. Her life, the good and the bad she’s ever done, captivate us and make us love this woman who has so many faults and yet such a spirit of survival. The side characters are also well done, with diverse personalities that fill the plot, deepening it. I would have liked to have seen a bit more of the last generation represented in these pages. The book left me wondering what happened to Baby and Appu, since they’re storyline doesn’t feel like it ended.

This is definitely a book I recommend. I fell in love with it and I hope you do too.

Tiger Hills by Sarita Mandanna

If you enjoy historical family sagas, then this book needs to be on your TBR list. It is a sweeping tale of love, hate, redemption and most importantly, forgiveness.

There is such beauty to this book. From the opening, with its lush descriptions of herons, to the very last page, it envelops you in an exotic landscape full of wonder. And that’s without even including the characters. But with this book, the land itself is another character, and a protagonist at that.

Devi, Devanna and Machu, the three main characters, are as beautifully written as the landscape. They are multi-dimensional creations that linger long after the reader finishes the book. Devi, in particular, tugs at you the longest. Her life, the good and the bad she’s ever done, captivate us and make us love this woman who has so many faults and yet such a spirit of survival. The side characters are also well done, with diverse personalities that fill the plot, deepening it. I would have liked to have seen a bit more of the last generation represented in these pages. The book left me wondering what happened to Baby and Appu, since they’re storyline doesn’t feel like it ended.

This is definitely a book I recommend. I fell in love with it and I hope you do too.

Musing Mondays

Have you ever reread a book and found that your opinion changed?

Yes. In high school I was assigned  Light in August by Faulkner, and the first time I read it, I violently disliked it. Something about it just annoyed me. But when I reread it to prepare for one of the assigned essays, I found that I actually enjoyed it. It's still not my favorite book, but I managed to appreciate the writing and the story.

Stacking the Shelves

Rebel Streets: A Novel of the Irish Troubles by Tom Molloy

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Map of the Sky by Felix Palma