Brave New Shelf

New Year, New Blog

2017-12-29T14:57:00.000-05:00

Though it's been a while for this blog, I still have quite a few followers. For those that are still actively following my feed, I wanted to give a little update as to my new blog/ where you can read new reviews from me:

Goodreads: Where I'm still the most active. I'm open to new friends/ review followers and regularly update what I'm currently reading or want to read. This is the best place to get in touch and know what books I'm talking about!

Tumblr: Also regular updates, though not as much as Goodreads. I'm more likely to reblog pictures and book lists, but I'm on fairly regularly.

Twitter: Auto-posts my ratings and reviews from Goodreads. I'm not currently on as a regular user, but if you don't check Goodreads regularly this is the best way to follow my thoughts.

I intend to keep this blog domain for a while longer as an archive for my older reviews. Thanks for following all this time!

-Emily

Review: Devoted by Jenifer Mathieu

2015-06-23T21:23:00.000-04:00

Title: Devoted
Series: N/A
Author: Jennifer Mathieu
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2015
Page #: 336
ISBN: 1596439114
Aquisition: Library loan

Goodreads, Author's Website

Goodreads Description

Rachel Walker is devoted to God. She prays every day, attends Calvary Christian Church with her family, helps care for her five younger siblings, dresses modestly, and prepares herself to be a wife and mother who serves the Lord with joy. But Rachel is curious about the world her family has turned away from, and increasingly finds that neither the church nor her homeschool education has the answers she craves. Rachel has always found solace in her beliefs, but now she can’t shake the feeling that her devotion might destroy her soul.

My obsession with young adult fiction with fundamentalist Christianity continues! This book was definitely easier to get through than some of the others in this category like The Chosen One or Sister Wives. Mathieu definitely did her research on this book, citing Kathryn Joyce’s “Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement” book, and one of my favorite reads last summer, so I requested this one from my library as fast as I could.

Maybe because I did read that book, and have been picked through the “No Longer Quivering” blog Mathieu also cites as a reference for a while, that this book didn’t hit me as hard as it will probably hit others. I’ve been around this block before, so nothing was particularly shocking or disturbing to me (i.e. women not being allowed to speak during prayer time, sanctioned teenage marriage and pregnancy, modest dressing methods, emotional suppression, etc.) That’s what’s keeping this book from hitting all five stars: I’ve seen the themes in YA fiction before, and Devoted didn’t really bust any barriers for me. Obviously this will be different for someone less “devoted” (haha) than I am to this sub-sub-sub-genre of fiction so I don’t want to penalize Mathieu.

But even though the “oh my gosh people actually do this” mentality was lost on me, Devoted still proved to be a sweet, heartfelt contemporary tale. Mathieu did a good job of spacing out Rachel’s growth in the story. When a girl leaves behind a community like this she doesn’t necessarily jump instantly into casual sex and booty shorts. Rachel is still uncertain of her place in her world once she’s out from under her parents’ (read: her father’s and pastor’s) thumbs and her adjustment to life outside of what she’s used to comes gradually over the course of the book, from her first unchaperoned conversation with a boy, to her first sleeveless shirt, to her first paycheck, and so on. Things don’t immediately click in to place when she first starts out, nor does she figure everything out by the end. The book is very light on the romance to reflect this, seamlessly avoiding another issue I’ve had with books of this kind.

The fact that Rachel kept her faith in God through the book was also nice. I wouldn’t really classify this book as “Christian fiction” but if there’s one aspect of her identity that Rachel is certain of it’s that she believes in God and wants to pray. Keeping that aspect of her personality and upbringing really helped round out her character without making her feel unrealistic. Likewise, with Lauren, who left the same Church under much more violent pretenses, has different feelings and reacts to things differently and sees the world differently. The same goes for the other women in Rachel’s life, like her mother and sisters. It’s refreshing that Mathieu understands that not every woman is going to feel the same about religion, or leaving it for that matter. No one is “othered” in this book, and none of the characters we meet are painted as 100% evil or wrong.

All in all, a lovely read with a heartfelt main character and a tasteful plot for inquisitive girls of all faiths.

Four Stars!

Serial Box #4: Bee and Puppycat #01

2015-06-05T17:15:00.000-04:00

Welcome back to Serial Box, my (semi) regular discussions on comics I've recently read! This time...

Written by Natasha Allegri and Garrett Jackson
Artwork by Natasha Allegri

If you like pastel colors, fluffy animals, eating food (and watching people on TV eat food), fun costumes, and temp jobs then Bee and Puppycat, the fun YouTube show from Frederator, is probably already on your radar. If not, it should be!

Bee and Puppycat is a series of short episodes on YouTube about a girl named Bee who meets a strange creature named Puppycat. The two of them work for Tempbot who sends them on different ridiculous jobs around the galaxy. There’s only five episodes so far at about six minutes each so they’re perfect for when you’re eating lunch/ waiting for someone to pick you up/ avoiding finishing an essay/ etc.

This comic, understandably, is pretty lighthearted and fluffy. Not much happens, nor does it seem to be going in any certain direction or following a really strict plot. The creator, Natasha Allegheri, is responsible for Fiona and Cake of "Adventure Time" fame, so if you’re familiar with the art and silliness featured there then you already know what to expect.

I tend to like more serious works that follow a stricter plot line, but this makes for a nice read if you just need something to kick back to. It’s cute and funny and is great for kids or adults who love cute things. The art has beautiful pastel colors that fit perfectly with the mood of the comic. I’m glad I nabbed this one when I had the chance and if you like the Bee and Puppycat show then by all means pick it up too!

Review: The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

2015-06-02T22:22:00.004-04:00

Title: The Sixth Extinction

Series: N/A

Author: Elizabeth Kolbert

Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.

Publication Date: February 11th, 2014

Page #: 319

ISBN: 0805092994

Acquisition: College interlibrary loan

Goodreads, Author's Twitter

I read this book for my Intro. to Sustainability class that I took this past spring. The paper I wrote on it was eight and a half pages long, so let's try and shorten that down for this review!

The Sixth Extinction is a non-fiction book about life, and death, on Earth. The title comes from the concept that there have been five mass extinctions, or mass deaths, encompassing most of life on Earth at the time of their occurrences. Most people are familiar with the K-T extinction, or the event that killed off the dinosaurs.

The fact that dinosaurs once walked the Earth but now no longer do is a topic that even very young children understand: we go to museums to see their bones, see fictional movies about bringing them back to life (with mixed results), and play with their toys. Non-dinosaurs, like mammoths and neanderthals, are other animals that we know are no longer with us. However, this is a relatively new idea: about two hundred years ago people figured that everything they saw was all that there was. It took scientific revolutions in biology and the emergence of paleontology for people to begin to understand that there was life before humans.

The Sixth Extinction, then, is about what happens while we're here. If the scientists, researchers, and conservationists that Kolbert interviews and visits are correct, then not only are we in the midst of the first mass extinctions for humans to witness but we are also the root of this problem.

Kolbert looks into many different intersecting topics for her book: ocean acidification, habitat fragmentation, invasive species, warming climates, and human intervention as well as the causes of all of these. Often intersecting with one another, these events are killing off different species, though not necessarily humans, at increasing rates.

Kolbert, however, approaches these bleak topics with humor and grace. She describes each new location and meeting with vibrant language that is easy to understand. The concepts in the book are explained thoroughly and without too much technical jargon. This isn't a book that you need an M.S. in paleontology, geology, or biology to understand. It's written to inform, not reiterate.

I think that reviewing non-fiction books is difficult. I'm still in school, so I can't confirm, back-up, defend, or "prove" anything that Kolbert is writing in her book. I can only recommend it on the grounds of what I think it is: well-thought out, well researched, and entertaining, if not a little bit morbid. When the stakes are as high as they are we need books like The Sixth Extinction more than ever; we need books that incite interest in topics like the ones presented here because, now or never, we need people who are educated. Voters, teachers, pastors, community leaders, politicians, everyone, really, should make an effort to educate themselves on the non-human consequences of certain actions, and reading The Sixth Extinction is a good place to start.

Five Stars!

Serial Box #3: Princess Leia #01

2015-05-23T00:13:00.000-04:00

Welcome back to Serial Box, my (semi) regular discussions on comics I've recently read! This time...

Written by Mark Waid
Pencils by Terry Dodson
Inks by Rachel Dodson
Colorist is Jordie Bellaire
Cover art by Terry Dodson

Marvel Description

When Princess Leia Organa was captured by the Empire as a Rebel spy, she never betrayed her convictions, even in the face of the complete destruction of her home world, Alderaan. When her rescue came, she grabbed a blaster and joined the fight, escaping back to the Rebel Alliance and helping strike the biggest blow against the Empire—the destruction of the Death Star. But in the aftermath of that victory, the question remains...what is a princess without a world? Writer Mark Waid (Daredevil, S.H.I.E.L.D.) and artist Terry Dodson (Avengers & X-Men: Axis, Uncanny X-Men) bring us a story of Leia’s quest to help her people and find her place in the galaxy.

My current Star Wars obsession is still relatively young; I first saw the original trilogy in 2010 and sat through all six movies together in 2011. I only really got into Star Wars as a series last summer when I started reading the comics, and even more so in January when I read my first novel (A New Dawn, which, why haven’t I reviewed yet?)

I’ll admit that I like the comics, books, and various shows more than I like the movies. I feel like the six hours we get to learn so many characters just isn’t enough. That goes especially for Princess Leia, the tough, brave, smart-mouthed lady who, for the longest time, was the only lady most fans of the Star Wars series could name. (Sorry, Mon Mothma!)

Now we’ve improved: Padme Amidala, Ahsoka Tano, Asajj Ventress, and all kinds of ladies both canon and not have filled up books, movies, cartoons, and comics. It’s nice to see that, in their reboot, Disney hasn’t forgotten to include the gal who started it all.

Readers only need to be familiar with Episode IV: A New Hope to start Princess Leia. In fact, the first few panels pick up right at the awards ceremony where A New Hope leaves off. Where this takes us after that I’ll leave up to the reader to read and find out, but it includes a lot of decisions that line up perfectly with some of what her father pulled during the Clone Wars: stealing ships, dramatic rescue missions, and flat-out usurping authority (which, believe it or not, you still have to do when you’re technically the highest authority.) As for the art, the cover alone is stellar (no pun intended) and the panels are colorful and fun without being cartoony.

Princess Leia #1 is definitely worth an investment for new fans of Star Wars who are jumping on board with the new movies and rediscovering the old ones. I’m excited to see where Leia, and new character Evaan Verlaine, take us. Judging from Leia’s valor and quick wit from A New Hope, I know it’ll be worth it.

Review: None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio

2015-05-18T23:16:00.002-04:00

Title: None of the Above
Series: N/A
Author: I.W. Gregorio
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: April 7th, 2015
Page #: 352 (233 in my digital ARC)
ISBN: 0062335316
Acquisition: ARC from Edelweiss

Goodreads, Author's Website

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book for review from Edelweiss on 1/23/15. The book was published on 4/7/15. Because of this, some of the scenes I addressed/ quotes I use may not appear in the final copy. Please keep this in mind when reading my review.

This book was a mix for me: a good topic and ideas with an execution that I wasn’t entirely happy with. An interesting main character with a lot of potential, but a lot of jumping around and a failure to live up to that potential. Genuine research into the lives of people with AIS, but some rude comments that I couldn’t overlook.

The best part of the book was how Krissy’s navigation of her newly-discovered intersex identity was sympathetic and well-researched. I don’t have AIS, so obviously you should take the word of a person with AIS over mine about how this identity is portrayed, but it sounds like Gregorio took the time to speak to people with AIS/ identify as intersex to write a better story. I can respect that, as can I her decision to write a character with AIS in the first place; it’s an identity that so few people understand and I applaud Gregorio for taking that step and making an effort to make her writing more inclusive.

My main issue was that the book felt like it was being pulled in multiple directions, like Gregorio stuffed all of the issues an intersex person could face into the book at once. The result is a jumble of plot lines that never really reach a climax nor have a satisfying conclusion. This includes: bullying/ transphobia/ intersexphobia, the right to compete in sports, health concerns/ the decision to have medical procedures, sexual identity/ queer identities, sexual activity, sexual assault, cyberbullying, etc. These are all important themes, but a lot of Krissy’s feelings and reactions to these events felt pushed under the rug or conveniently forgotten so we could move onto the next problem. What this book needed was more time, and a lot more pages, to get a chance to resolve things as they need to be or at least address them more than once and for more than one chapter.

I couldn’t get myself to connect to any of the characters, and I feel like the only characters that we got to see really fleshed out were Krissy, her father, and her (dead) mother. The rest of the characters either felt flat or like Gregorio wanted to write about them but never got around to it. For example, Krissy was a “big” (kind of like a student mentor) to a girl on the track team, so you’d think that fleshing out their relationship would make sense seeing as Gregorio tried to make a plot line out of Krissy possibly not being able to compete in sports because of her intersex identity. In actuality, we only see the girl twice.

Another issue I took with the book were some comments made about Castor Semenya, who is frequently referenced in the book because she is also intersex and a runner/ athlete like Krissy. Unfortunately, not all of these mentions are positive:

“[Krissy’s dad] clicked through to another article and there was a close-up of a runner. I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman.” (pg. 102)
This isn’t okay. Calling a person an “it” is completely unacceptable and especially when that person is a real human being. Castor isn’t a fictional character that Gregorio made up, she’s a real person who’s been dehumanized because of the identity that Gregorio is (supposedly) trying to fight the dehumanization of. Krissy’s distaste for Caster is never really touched upon, or resolved, but is apparently justified because she’s a “real” woman:

“I don't look like Caster. I look like a woman. I am a woman.” (pg. 106)

I agree that Krissy’s insecurity about her own identity as a woman needed to be addressed within the book, but Caster Semenya is a woman because she says she is and that’s that. Again, I don’t identify as intersex, so I’d like to hear what a person who identifies as such thinks about this, but these lines definitely spoiled some of the book for me.

Overall, the book felt unfinished. The digital ARC that I had been sent was only 233 pages while Goodreads says the final book will be 352. Maybe that’s just how the pages are split up from one format to another, or maybe Gregorio went back and wrote in more scenes to fill in some of the patchiness and confusion, or to flesh out more events/ characters to make them feel less rushed. I sincerely hope it’s the second, and will gladly take another look and write a new review if that’s the case.

Three Stars!

Serial Box #2: The Midas Flesh Vol. 1

2015-02-17T10:57:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Serial Box! Here, I talk about comics that I've been checking out recently. This week:

Written by Ryan North
Illustrated by Braden Lamb and Shelli Paroline

Goodreads Description

We've all heard of the Midas Touch. You know, the Greek myth about the man who did a number on himself by wishing everything he touched to turn to gold? Well, you haven't heard everything.

Joey and her space crew have decided to return to Earth--a planet completely sectioned off, abandoned, and covered in gold--to find out exactly what happened to this once thriving planet and see if they can use that knowledge against the evil empire that's tracking them down. As luck would have it, they just landed the most powerful weapon in the universe: some ancient dead guy's body.

The totally unpredictable first collection of Ryan North's debut original print comic book series The Midas Touch, featuring art by illustration dynamos Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb, will leave the reader reeling from start to gilded finish.

The first four issues of an eight-issue series, the first volume of The Midas Flesh is awesome. It's a totally original story, so there's no worrying about catching up or who or what you'll be able to recognize. I love the premise most of all: I was already familiar with the story of King Midas, so this was a really interesting twist on his story.

I've also been getting more and more into space stories recently. The Midas Flesh follows the pretty typical space opera plot of "rebels" vs. some kind of evil empire/ society/ fleet, here called "The Federation," so you know kind of what to expect in that field. Still, the mixture of futuristic with mythological keeps things pretty interesting and fresh, which was really nice. I'll be picking up the second volume for sure, but all eight issues are already out and available to read if you can track them down online or at your local comic shop.

Also, reading this is another tally towards my Diverse Books Challenge! So happy to see a Muslin girl named Fatty, short for Fatima, in this book. She's one of the three protagonists and has frequent speaking roles and is heavily involved in the daily activities of their ship. Ms. Marvel has been getting a lot of (very well-deserved) praise recently, but it's nice to see that more comic publishers are branching out as well.

Volume 2 will be published on June 9th, 2015.

Serial Box #1: Marceline Gone Adrift #01

2015-01-23T13:40:00.002-05:00

Welcome to the first installation of Serial Box! 2014 was a big year in comics for me, and I've had plenty of time to build up my collection of comic series both short and on-going.I've really enjoyed my sojourn into comics so far and I look forward to this segment where I get to talk about them!

Written by Meredith Gran
Illustrated by Carey Pietsch

BOOM! Studios Description

Marceline is on a rampage for mysterious reasons, and the kingdom of Ooo is desperately scrambling to stop her. In trying to save both Ooo and Marceline herself, Princess Bubblegum accidentally propels Marceline into the farthest reaches of space...and strips her of her powers! Guilt-ridden, Princess Bubblegum sets off on a space rescue that’ll test the power of her mind...as well as the power of friendship.

The first volume in a planned series of six, Marceline Gone Adrift has grabbed my attention with just the first issue. I stopped by a new comic store this weekend, a little one in the town over, and decided to grab it. It's written by Meredith Gran of Octopus Pie and illustrated by Carey Pietsch.

The art and color palette are amazing; mostly pinks and blues (for obvious reasons, for those who are familiar with Adventure Time.) You can see more of Pietsch's work at her website to get a feel for it; it's very lovely. She's new to the Adventure Time series (besides a variant cover for Banana Guard Academy), which already has several other comic series out, but her character designs and expressions fit right in with the style of the show.

We're only just getting started plot-wise but already enough questions have been introduced to keep the series going. I'm sure that once we hit the second issue we'll start answering these questions, but until then we have a solid beginning. I look forward to issue #2!

Review: The Glass Sentence by S. E. Grove

2015-01-18T21:16:00.001-05:00

Title: The Glass Sentence
Series: The Mapmakers Trilogy (#1)
Author: S. E. Grove
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Publication Date: June 12th, 2014
Page #: 493
ISBN: 0670785024

Goodreads, Author's Website

Goodreads Description

She has only seen the world through maps. She had no idea they were so dangerous.
Boston, 1891. Sophia Tims comes from a family of explorers and cartologers who, for generations, have been traveling and mapping the New World—a world changed by the Great Disruption of 1799, when all the continents were flung into different time periods. Eight years ago, her parents left her with her uncle Shadrack, the foremost cartologer in Boston, and went on an urgent mission. They never returned. Life with her brilliant, absent-minded, adored uncle has taught Sophia to take care of herself.
Then Shadrack is kidnapped. And Sophia, who has rarely been outside of Boston, is the only one who can search for him. Together with Theo, a refugee from the West, she travels over rough terrain and uncharted ocean, encounters pirates and traders, and relies on a combination of Shadrack’s maps, common sense, and her own slantwise powers of observation. But even as Sophia and Theo try to save Shadrack’s life, they are in danger of losing their own.
The Glass Sentence plunges readers into a time and place they will not want to leave, and introduces them to a heroine and hero they will take to their hearts. It is a remarkable debut.

A fantastic book. The worldbuilding was extremely rich and engaging, and I look forward to exploring more of this world in future books. Which is why I was a little upset and took issue with some of the turns that Grove took within the story.
Grove at points makes use of "deus ex machina," a term used to describe a seemingly impossible coincidence to get characters out of a sticky situation. The book starts out just fine, but these increase in number as the book continues.
I also feel that there were some plot points that were not followed up on, and some of the character's actions and decisions were not explained sufficiently or dropped entirely. Unfortunately, I cannot be specific with my examples as many occur in the second half of the book and would require spoilers, but I will say that even the title and tagline on the cover leave me at a loss as to how they relate back to the story.
The reason that I didn't dock more than half a star for these things, as well as the fact that I'm more disappointed than angry, is that Grove is clearly a fantastic writer and a brilliant worldbuilder. I hope that Grove has set aside some of these ideas to be resolved in later books, and that she wasn't pressured to send the final copy before it was time (no pun intended.) I also couldn't help but feel that she sold herself short at times, or wrote herself into a corner even though she pushed the envelope in every other aspect of the book.
That aside, these elements do not diminish how enjoyable it was to read the Glass Sentence. I am amazed that it's only Grove's first book. Aside from the worldbuilding, I very much enjoyed Sofia as a protagonist. She's adventurous and curious, determined and kind. The characters she meets along the way are also interesting, and compliment each other well. I have no complaints about any other aspect of the book (pacing, length, setting, etc.), and hope my lengthy paragraph above doesn't make it seem like I disliked the book. What I listed were my only issues with the book.
Hopefully some of the kinks iron themselves out and the second book is better than ever, but until then the Glass Sentence deserves the high praise it has been receiving and was a wonderful way to start off my 2015 reading challenge.

Four Stars!

2013 Round-Up: How My Challenges Treated Me

2014-01-09T03:06:00.000-05:00

I participated in three reading challenges in 2013, none of which I completed, but I read some pretty good books last year that I might not have picked up if not for them. That counts as a success in my book!

2013 Goodreads Reading Challenge: I planned for 30 and ended up reading 38. I find it hard to make time to read at school, so I pack what I can (in between doing other things *ahemvideogamesahem*) during my breaks. I'm happy that I was able to make time for 38 books this year, and hopefully in 2014 I'll be able to up that to 40. I lament the fact that I may never return to the overwhelming succcess (in my book) of 52 books in 2012, but who knows! Maybe I'll finally get my butt in gear (and off Tumblr) in 2014.

Debut Author Challenge 2013: This... did not go well for me. The idea was to read books by authors whose first published works were released in 2013 and in that specific month if you wanted to participate in mini-challenges. This is simply too hard for me: my school library has no fiction to be found and the local public libraries are too out of the way to make travelling there convient. I never spend money on books and libraries don't often get books "in time" to make the mini-challenges. When they do, they are often snapped up quickly. They can also be hard to locate: my local public libraries don't have an easy was of looking up debut authors, and sometimes books from the previous year are mixed into the new sections.
Also... not many debut books interested me. I'd find a debut book, but the plot summary sounded too boring to me to attempt. It simply wasn't the challenge for me.
Still, I did get a 3/10, and those three were pretty good, so again I'm impressed that I did as well as I did.

YA/MG Fantasy Challenge: I made it 8/10, though if we would count Fables (whether or not your could consider it young adult is a bit dubious; it deals with pretty adult themes) then I roll in at a perfect 10/10.
I liked this challenge a lot, I really enjoy fantasy, and I finally got around to starting the Harry Potter series! I would participate again, but that isn't looking like it's going to happen. I would love to host it myself, but I think I'll have save for the future when my drive to blog is on more solid footing.

Review: Crash and Burn by Michael Hassan

2014-01-09T02:35:00.000-05:00

Title: Crash and Burn
Author: Michael Hassan
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: February 19, 2013
Page #: 532
ISBN: 0062112902

Goodreads, Author's Twitter

Goodreads Description

On April 21, 2008, Steven "Crash" Crashinsky saved more than a thousand people when he stopped his classmate David Burnett from taking their high school hostage armed with assault weapons and high-powered explosives. You likely already know what came after for Crash: the nationwide notoriety, the college recruitment, and, of course, the book deal. What you might not know is what came before: a story of two teens whose lives have been inextricably linked since grade school, who were destined, some say, to meet that day in the teachers' lounge of Meadows High. And what you definitely don't know are the words that Burn whispered to Crash right as the siege was ending, a secret that Crash has never revealed.
Until now.
Michael Hassan's shattering novel is a tale of first love and first hate, the story of two high school seniors and the morning that changed their lives forever. It's a portrait of the modern American teenage male, in all his brash, disillusioned, oversexed, schizophrenic, drunk, nihilistic, hopeful, ADHD-diagnosed glory. And it's a powerful meditation on how normal it is to be screwed up, and how screwed up it is to be normal.

Crash and Burn starts right from the beginning and carries you through Steven's/ Crash's life all the way up to the end, combining to become a sort of autobiography-slash- journal. Reader's are given a chapter of life as it is for Crash, showing his day-to-day activities as he moves through life as a normal teenager after his not-so-average heroic break. This contrasts with pages of his book-within-a-book that's he's writing, his tell-all. And wow, does it pay off in the end.

You don't go into Crash and Burn thinking that it's going to be funny, witty, insightful, telling, truthful, or anything other than bone-crushingly sad. Because that's what books about almost-school-shootings and hostage students is supposed to be, right? Thankfully, for our sake, Hassan has given us something very, very different.

Crash and Burn is bone-crushingly sad, at times. And it's hilarious and sarcastic, at times. It has its mundane and boring parts too. It all works out though, with Crash being one of the most realistic, insightful, interesting characters to come out of young adult fiction for a long time.

It's book like Crash and Burn that pull me back into young adult fiction in a world that trying to hawk "new adult" or sometimes just "adult" books to me. It challenges the idea that we aren't ready for things that are thrown our way, that even though there are people out there who look at us and figure that we're ready for this or not ready for that. It takes every single one of its 532 pages and introduces us to a character who's funny, depressed, sarcastic, loving, unloving, confused, high, drunk, and one of the closest fictional characters I've ever seen to a real, living person.

It was amazing.

Five stars!

Note: I wrote this review at least six months ago and did not publish it until now. Looking back (from July 2013) I still think that Crash and Burn deserves the full five stars that I gave it. It was one of the few YA books last year that I got through and was satisfied with having spent as much time on it as I did. However, I am going to come out and say that, looking back, I did have a few problems with how some girls/ women are discussed/ portrayed in the book. I would rewrite my review to go into specifics, but like I said I read/ reviewed it quite a long time ago, and don't think that I could do a new review justice. Just a heads-up that I had to get off of my chest.

The Validation of Comics

2014-01-09T02:28:00.000-05:00

I've been setting up my Goodreads 2014 Reading Challenge recently, but I've been really stuck on just how low/ high to set my goal.
The reason that I feel so stuck on this is that each year I'm reading more and more comics, collected volumes at least. I have a nice, comfy collection in the bookshelf right next to my bed, Chew and Saga included, and a neat (and by neat I mean jumbled up among all of my other library books) pile of books that I got from the public library to read over break, Fables and Unwritten included.
There are a lot of them, not gonna lie. Chew has seven volumes out, so far, and the first five made their way onto last year's Goodreads Reading Challenge. Each one took me somewhere around an hour, maybe an hour and a half depending on how long I linger to look at the artwork.
When I did Goodreads Reading Challenges in the past, adding them to the list always felt like cheating to me. I read a lot of manga in middle school and early high school, which is where my comics kick really got started, and they were never really treated like "real" books, at least not by the people surrounding my me and my friends.
-Our little anime club was treated like a joke by the librarians (which, granted, we were, but there's no need to be rude about a bunch of middle school girls just having fun.)
-Public library manga collections always seem to be poorly taken care of and missing volumes (all too often number one? Really?)
-My friend was allowed to choose manga for an English project, but she had to read the entire series (at least 10+ volumes at the time) while all of the other students just had to pick one novel.
I've read dozens of volumes of manga in my life, but not one has made it's way onto my Goodreads account.
Why is that? Why is there this notion that comics don't count as "real" books, or that the time invested in reading them isn't the same as the time invested in reading a "real" book? How come they all need to be reclassified in school libraries and on recommended reading lists as "graphic novels" in order to be taken seriously by teachers, librarians, school officials, and parents?
The reason I'm stuck is because there's still that nagging feeling in the back of my head that I'm cheating on my Goodreads list by adding comics. I could spend days holed up in my room, pouring over volume after volume, and a part of me would still feel guilty, like those books "don't count" or "shouldn't count" towards my final goal because they're typically shorted, are full of pictures (duh), and manage to pack their plot into fewer words than other forms of storytelling.
I'm finally starting to come into my own about what books I want to read. I turned 20 late last year, and I'm moving away from the young adult genre not because I think that I'm "too old" for it (lies), but because many of the new stories coming have stopped capturing my interest. Comics are now filling that gap, and I know that to neglect them on my Goodreads simply because other people would think that I was taking the easy way out (people who have obviously never picked up a comic book in their life if they believe that) wouldn't be right on any level.
I've spent too long reading, and blogging, for other people, and both are hobbies that I need to reclaim for myself. This is how a start: a 40-book goal and an understanding that I have to start doing things for myself.

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge (5)

2013-08-01T00:00:00.000-04:00

Day 5: Recommend a tear jerker

I'm notorious for never crying at books, so I really can't recommend any! Crash and Burn by Michael Hassan had some parts that really hit me and were hard to read, but it also had a lot of comical parts so I can't really say that it was a "tear jerker."

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge (4)

2013-07-31T00:00:00.000-04:00

Day 4: What's the last book you flung across the room?

Probably In Honor by Jessi Kirbi. It just didn't click with me, and I really wasn't enjoying it by the end. I finished it solely because I was already halfway through when I realized that I wasn't enjoying it... It wasn't a very pleasurable experience, unfortunately.

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge (3)

2013-07-30T00:00:00.000-04:00

Day 3: Who are your blogging BFFS?

I'm sorry to say that I don't have any! I'm not very good at networking, and I have too many troubles with being consistent on this blog. Maybe a blogging buddy would help with that, but who knows?

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge (2)

2013-07-19T12:00:00.000-04:00

Day 2: What's Your Bedtime Reading Ritual?

Step 1: Climb into bed.

Step 2: Tell myself that I'm going to read before bed.

Step 3: End up getting too sleepy/ comfy to read.

Step 4: Fall asleep with my lights on.

Step 5: Wake up the next morning having not read.

Step 6: Repeat.

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge (Day 1)

2013-07-18T12:00:00.000-04:00

Good Books and Good Wine is hosting a book blogger challenge over at her blog to help get things moving with her posts, and I figure that it will do the same for mine! Challenges like this combine two of my favorite things: talking about books and talking about me reading books, so let's get started!

Day 1: Make 15 book related confessions

1) I'm really distressed that I've found so few fantasy/ sci-fi YA books with non-straight/ gender non-conforming main characters (recommend some in the comments!)

2) I've been trying to read more non-fiction about Christianity in the United States (Check out my review of The Unlikely Disciple!) because I find it so fascinating.

3) I wish that more authors valued the friendship between men and women as they did the potential for romance. Not everything has to end in a kiss.

4) I've been seriously considering getting an Artemis Fowl tattoo for over a year now (a small acorn, on the back of my neck.)

5) I'm a Darwinist (Leviathan series, by Scott Westerfeld)

6) I read The Hobbit because I loved the line "You'll have a tale or two to tell when you come back," from the movie trailer. It isn't in the book.

7) I've never read a Harry Potter book. I started the first one a few weeks ago when babysitting and hope to finish it this summer.

8) My favorite book in first grade was Christmas in Camelot by Mary Pope Osborne. I still have my copy.

9) I think that there's a serious problem with the glorification of abusive relationships in young adult fiction today.

10) I've only read one Sherlock Holmes story, the first, and don't really like him in general

11) The last book that I purchased was the second volume of Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples. It's one of only a very, very small handful of books that I'll purchase this year

12) My library card was registered on July 7, 1999. I was five and a half years old.

13) I have over 31 items out of various libraries now, all books (and one magazine) piled in a crate next to my bed.

14) My greatest book "success" is the Skulduggery Pleasant series. Someone mentioned it on the Figment boards and I added it to my Goodreads list. A month or so later I looked up some YA books to listen to while I worked and it was one of four random ones that popped up. I downloaded it and two days later it was one of the best books I've read/ listened to. I spent the next four months reading all six that were out at the time, buying them from Europe because they never caught on in the United States.

15) I had to read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad last semester and wrote a paper about how I believe that the jungle itself is sentient and should be regarded as a character.

And... that's all I've got! Hopefully you guys learned some new things about me with this list and you'll keep learning more about me as this challenge goes on!

Review: The Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose

2013-07-17T12:00:00.000-04:00

Title: The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester At America's Holiest University
Author: Kevin Roose
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: March 26, 2009
Page #: 324
ISBN: 044617842X

Goodreads + Author's Website

Goodreads Summary

As a sophomore at Brown University, Kevin Roose didn't have much contact with the Religious Right. Raised in a secular home by staunchly liberal parents, he fit right in with Brown's sweatshop-protesting, fair-trade coffee-drinking, God-ambivalent student body. So when he had a chance encounter with a group of students from Liberty University, a conservative Baptist university in Lynchburg, Virginia, he found himself staring across a massive culture gap. But rather than brush the Liberty students off, Roose decided to do something much bolder: he became one of them.
Liberty University is the late Rev. Jerry Falwell's proudest accomplishment - a 10,000-student conservative Christian training ground. At Liberty, students (who call themselves "Champions for Christ") take classes like Introduction to Youth Ministry and Evangelism 101. They hear from guest speakers like Mike Huckabee and Karl Rove, they pray before every class, and they follow a 46-page code of conduct called "The Liberty Way" that prohibits drinking, smoking, R-rated movies, contact with the opposite sex, and witchcraft. Armed with an open mind and a reporter's notebook, Roose dives into life at Bible Boot Camp with the goal of connecting with his evangelical peers by experiencing their world first-hand.
Roose's semester at Liberty takes him to church, class, and choir practice at Rev. Falwell's Thomas Road Baptist Church. He visits a support group for recovering masturbation addicts, goes to an evangelical hip-hop concert, and participates in a spring break mission trip to Daytona Beach, where he learns how to convert bar-hopping co-eds to Christianity. Roose struggles with his own faith throughout, and in a twist that could only have been engineered by a higher power, he conducts what would turn out to be the last in-depth interview of Rev. Falwell's life. Hilarious and heartwarming, respectful and thought-provoking, Kevin Roose's embedded report from the front lines of the culture war will inspire and entertain believers and non-believers alike.

I wish that Kevin Roose had been a little more fair to himself when he said that his work wasn't exactly an ethnography. Enter an unknown land by yourself with the intent of researching and writing about your experiences among people who live and believe differently than you, trying to stay non-judgmental all the while? Certainly sounds like an ethnography to me.

I had read The Year of Living Biblically, written by Roose's mentor A.J. Jacobs, a few years earlier and can definitely see similarities in their experiences and writing styles. It's refreshing, not too stiff or clinical but instead personable and relatable, to everyone. Though liberal college-age students will probably understand a bit better where Roose is coming from, it really is a book for everybody. Though he enters Liberty University having only attended Brown University, his work has the marks of the journalist he is. He goes in with an open mind, and it pays off.

There were a few elements of his writing style that I did question though, and a few times I was wondering why he was writing the way he was. Though he does touch on some of the anti-LGBT opinions held by his classmates, he moves through them very quickly for someone with friends and family that identify with the LGBT community. I understand that those kinds of situations were uncomfortable for him, and he does discuss them a little bit, but I would have liked to see some more reflection on Roose's part.

This was Roose's first and last foray into religious non-fiction*, which I think is unfortunate. Still, The Unlikely Disciple is an insightful book for the saint and sinner alike.

*He currently writes about economics and Wall Street happenings. His next book, Young Money, will be out 2014

Review: The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson

2013-07-03T12:52:00.000-04:00

Title: The Summer Prince

Author: Alaya Dawn Johnson

Publisher: Arthur A. Levine

Publication Date: March 1, 2013

Page #: 289

ISBN: 0545417791

Goodreads + Author's Website

Goodreads Summary

A heart-stopping story of love, death, technology, and art set amid the tropics of a futuristic Brazil.
The lush city of Palmares Três shimmers with tech and tradition, with screaming gossip casters and practiced politicians. In the midst of this vibrant metropolis, June Costa creates art that’s sure to make her legendary. But her dreams of fame become something more when she meets Enki, the bold new Summer King. The whole city falls in love with him (including June’s best friend, Gil). But June sees more to Enki than amber eyes and a lethal samba. She sees a fellow artist.
Together, June and Enki will stage explosive, dramatic projects that Palmares Três will never forget. They will add fuel to a growing rebellion against the government’s strict limits on new tech. And June will fall deeply, unfortunately in love with Enki. Because like all Summer Kings before him, Enki is destined to die.
Pulsing with the beat of futuristic Brazil, burning with the passions of its characters, and overflowing with ideas, this fiery novel will leave you eager for more from Alaya Dawn Johnson.

One of the first things so apparent about The Summer Prince is that Johnson talks frankly about race, class, sexual orientation, sex, love, death, and more. This book covers everything and doesn't apologize for any of it. Nothing in this book feels like it was forced in, nor does any of it feels like Johnson put it in because she had to.

Another element of the book that I would congratulate Johnson on was how she wrote a sci-fi novel set in the future without making it sound campy or confusing. The descriptions of Palmares Tres feel natural, none of it forced. Because of this it feels like a location one could logically visit instead of just some fantasy land that we know is rooted in fiction.

The one thing that I am most thankful for in The Summer Prince has to be the unconventional love triangle that June has found herself in. There's no cattiness, no betrayal, and the emotions that flow between the three main characters feels as natural as can be. This is a book about loving, not fighting, and honors old ties more than it does new flames, something that I feel many modern young adult writers are reluctant to pursue for the sake of preserving the age-old love triangle cliche of, "There can only be one."

That's where my sympathies with June ceased, though. Many times I was left wondering why she did what she did, or why the story was taking her in the direction that it was going. Some of her choices didn't feel natural, but instead were spontaneous (in a not-good way) for the sake of pushing the novel forward. I had some troubles linking up with her on a personal level, particularly towards the end. Still, I honor Johnson's decision to make her the narrator and feel that seeing the events of The Summer Prince unfold through her eyes was the best choice for the story.

The Summer Prince is not only a wonderful story about love and death, but also a real step in the right direction for young adult fiction. Johnson writes frankly about sexuality, class, and questioning the status quo and her work deserves to be recognized and held as an example for what young adult fiction can be.

Four and a half stars!

Feature and Follow Friday (13)

2013-06-20T22:49:00.002-04:00

Feature and Follow Friday is hosted over at Parajunkee and Alison can Read. This week's question:

Q: What is your preferred reading format? Hardcover, eBooks, paperback etc?

I prefer hardcover books, but I like paperbacks too! I don't read eBooks, nor have an eBook reader.

...

Feel free to leave a comment and follow any way you please! (Twitter - Goodreads - RSS)

Teaser Tuesday: Spoiled by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

2013-06-18T02:51:00.000-04:00

My Teaser Tuesday for this week comes from Spoiled by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan:

She flipped open the magazine she'd purloined from Charmaine's stash. People showed Brick beaming as part of a story about him buying an alpaca farm for a costar who'd expressed a passing yearning to make sweaters, and he was in Us's "Stars... They're Just Like Us!" section as someone who "loves sandwiches," illustrated by a grainy photo of Brick coming out of a Subway restaurant.

-Pg. 33

Amazon - Goodreads

..........

Teaser Tuesday is hosted over at Should Be Reading.

The End of Google Reader

2013-06-17T15:18:00.001-04:00

Unfortunately, as of July 1st Google Reader will be no more. I've been a fan of the service for years so it really upsets me to have to look elsewhere, but alas things must go on.

Thankfully, my search wasn't long. Feedly let me transfer over almost all of my blogs to their services. The only ones that won't be making it are the ones that I registered for through the Google Reader app. This isn't a major problem for me, as I already separated out the book blogs that I read frequently and put them in a new category that successfully made it to feedly.

This switch-over has also been very cleansing for me. I was following a lot of blogs that weren't posting anything anymore and many that were reviewing books that I wasn't interested in reading. It's nice that I'm kind of being forced to put my priorities in order and look again at what sorts of blogs I want to be reading and what sorts of content that I want to be reading.

I hope that everyone who is being displaced by Google finds the system that works for them!

Polish and Prose (3)

2013-06-16T15:42:00.002-04:00

It's been a long time since I picked up this book, When She Woke by Hillary Jordan, but the cover is so dynamic that I thought it would translate well to my nails:

These were also done simply. I painted my nails red and waited for the polish to dry. Then, I placed a piece of clear tape down the center of each, pressed it down, and painted the uncovered sides black. After they dried I tidied them up a bit and here they are!

Until next time!

Review: Chew by John Layman and Rob Guillory

2013-02-11T12:03:00.000-05:00

Title: Chew vol. 1: Taster's Choice
Author: John Layman
Artist: Rob Ruillory
Publisher: Image Comics
Publication Date: November 1st, 2009
Page #: 128
ISBN: 1607061597
Acquired: Purchased

Amazon, Goodreads, series website

From Goodreads:

Tony Chu is a detective with a secret. A weird secret. Tony Chu is Cibopathic, which means he gets psychic impressions from whatever he eats. It also means he's a hell of a detective, as long as he doesn't mind nibbling on the corpse of a murder victim to figure out whodunit, and why. He's been brought on by the Special Crimes Division of the FDA, the most powerful law enforcement agency on the planet, to investigate their strangest, sickest, and most bizarre cases.
Collects CHEW #1-5.

I've been staring at my draft page for this review for a while now, having put off writing it for two weeks after I devoured volumes one and two, no pun intended, as quickly as I could. You'll have to forgive all of the eating puns, but Chew is very much like your favorite food. It's indescribable, and whether or not everyone loves it as much as you do doesn't matter because you will still go and tell your family, your friends, and any person who asks just how much it satiated you.

Chew is one of those stories that can only be told in comic form. I've been turning to comics more and more often because the stories are grittier, more mature with a hint (or in the case of Chew, bucketloads) of quirkness that you can't always find in novels.

I can't really describe Chew for you, and I know that me just telling you "Go read this," won't be enough for the people that follow this blog for the young adult novels. YA and comics like Chew don't mesh well, I can't remember the last time I read a young adult novel that gave me the same strange, obsessive, slightly nauseous (in a good way) feeling that Chew gave me. All I can do is ask you to step out of your comfort zone just this once and give it a shot.

Five stars!

Getting Settled

2013-02-06T16:09:00.001-05:00

I'm a week and a half into classes at school and I'm glad to say that things are going well!

I'm at a dry period in my day now: I had just one class this morning, which I supplemented with going to the gym and are now just hanging out in my room ~~watching Danny Phantom on Netflix~~.

Other than Spanish this morning I've got two anthropology classes on Tuesday and Thursday paired with a required honors class that I have to take.

And, even better news...

My library card came in the mail yesterday! All I have to do now if pop off to the city and get it validated at one of the libraries and I can start taking out books! This will probably happen over my President's Day break in a few weeks, so I'll make a post about how that goes!

Also, a this-just-in piece of news:

We have a new family member! Her name is Marley, and she's about a year old. She's been adopted from the local pet and animal supply store that has been working with a local shelter to get some of their cats adopted out to good families :) I'm still grieving a bit over the loss of my last cat and longtime friend Whiskers, but it will be nice to have another furry face around and I can't wait to see her over spring break!

More college news later, and next week I'll try and get back on track with my memes and reviews. Thanks for the patience while I get settled in again!