Book Reviews

2011 Reading Challenge

read 6 books toward her goal of 31 books.

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Reads of 2012

#1 Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer A very bleak but interesting look at what life would be like in the wake of tremendous natural disasters. I was kind of perplexed by the basis of the plot--how could scientists not even suspect the potential consequences of a meteor hitting the moon?...	#2 First Day on Earth by Cecil Castellucci Meh. I gave this 3 stars on Goodreads, but it really gets 2.5 stars from me. I have mixed feelings. On one hand, the book has a very solid message--about how some of us feel like 'aliens' in the world--in other words, outcasts who don't belong. I dig that message. On the other hand, the prose was very flat for me...
#3 Nothing by Janne Teller ugh, this book. The thing I took away is the idea that teenagers are some twisted mofos. Nothing is about the meaning and meaninglessness that we feel as humans...	#4 The Fault in Our Stars by John Green This is a devastatingly beautiful book that made me cry no fewer than nine times. I read it straight through in one sitting. I kind of took a chance on this--mostly picked it up due to all the buzz surrounding it...

Reads of 2011

#1 American on Purpose by Craig Ferguson This book was a pleasant surprise. Before I read it, I knew that Craig Ferguson is hilarious, but I had no idea that his life had been so complicated prior to his becoming the host of The Late Late Show...	#2 The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe I’m pretty sure this is one of Poe’s stories that I had read years before, but I read it again recently as a refresher. It’s sufficiently creepy enough to please me...
#3 The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe I enjoyed this story, but didn’t love it completely. The ending seems a bit rushed and I wish that Prince Prospero were in the story more, rather than the narrative being built up around him...	#4 The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe Creepy, creepy story. Very similar to “The Tell-Tale Heart,” it involves a narrator who flies off the handle one day (quite literally) and commits a murder, only to have his conscience eat away at him thereafter...
#5 Matched by Ally Condie Let me preface this review by saying that Matched has been described as The Hunger Games meets Twilight. (If neither of those titles sounds remotely appealing to you, feel free to stop reading now.)...	#6 Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher Thirteen Reasons Why is a bleak book, but one I’m glad to have read. It’s the story of Hannah Baker, a teenage girl who has committed suicide for reasons seemingly unknown to the community...
#7 The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath The Bell Jar is a classic that I had put off reading for years, mainly because I didn’t think I was ready for the material. Now that I’ve read it, I’m glad that I did, but it was quite an exhausting read...	#8 If I Stay by Gayle Forman If I Stay has a premise that drew me in: 17-year-old Mia is in a coma following a serious car accident with her family, and the book follows her out-of-body experience, of sorts, as she is faced with the decision of whether she should stay alive or allow herself to die...
#9 Escape by Carolyn Jessop Escape is a thoroughly disturbing, yet triumphant true story about one woman’s flight from a cult. Carolyn Jessop was raised in the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), an offshoot of the Mormon church that still practices polygamy, long after the mainstream church changed their doctrine...	#10 Light on Snow by Anita Shreve After the horrifying book I had just finished, I wanted a comforting book to read next. Anita Shreve’s writing usually fits the bill. Unfortunately, Light on Snow was a miss for me...
#11 The Quickening by Michelle Hoover One-sentence plot summary (no spoilers): In the early 1900s, Midwest farming families face struggles and tragedy. I first heard of The Quickening through the Books on the Nightstand podcast. I’ve discovered some amazing novels through BOTNS, so I figured I’d give this one a try...	#12 Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery Every year when I was growing up, our local PBS station would show the Anne of Green Gables miniseries during their annual fundraiser telethon. I always looked forward to seeing Anne again each year. Although we really should have ordered the series on tape (VHS!), my family didn’t own a copy, so we’d have to catch it once a year during the fundraiser...
#13 Forgotten by Cat Patrick At the start, I didn’t expect too much from this book. Whenever I want to read something light and fluffy, I reach for a young adult novel. Forgotten had an interesting premise but I didn’t think it would keep me riveted as much as it did. I was pleasantly surprised...	#14 A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan All right, I admit it--I read this because it won the Pulitzer. I don't think I would have read it otherwise. However, this is going to be a really short review since I had mixed feelings about the book...
#15 Uglies by Scott Westerfeld This is going to be another super short review because I really disliked this book. Actually, not only did I dislike it but I was also disappointed by it...	#16 Ice by Ice-T Surprisingly poignant and relevant. I knew next to nothing about Ice-T prior to becoming a Law & Order: SVU fan, so this memoir was very enlightening for me...
#17 Darkness Under the Sun by Dean Koontz A pretty good scary story. This was my first time reading anything by Koontz, so I figured I'd start with a novella in case I didn't like his writing style...	#18 Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen An incredibly sweet story that surprised me. I expected this to be another fluffy, fast read. While I did read this rather quickly, the story lingered with me after I finished it...
#19 Carrie by Stephen King This is the first full-length King novel I've read; my first experience reading King was with the novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, which I adored because I love the movie so much...	#20 Rage by Stephen King (Writing as Richard Bachman) I enjoyed Carrie so much that I picked another King title to read immediately. I have this morbid (but hopefully not overly creepy) interest and fascination with school shootings, probably because I was still a teenager when the Columbine shootings (and the subsequent rush of other school shootings) happened...
#21 Inside Scientology by Janet Reitman Oh boy, where to start? If you’re at all familiar with me, then you know that I am staunchly anti-Scientology. I think it’s not a religion–it’s a cult–and people who get involved with it are basically brainwashed...	#22 Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma Ok, so…I was working at the library by myself one day, skimming the shelves, when I came across Forbidden. I read the inside flap copy and literally went, “WHAT?!” when I discovered that this book is about incest...
#23 Fear by R.L. Stine (Editor) Meh, these stories were just okay. It’s not very accurate to call them horror stories, though some are suspenseful (as suspenseful as a YA novel can be). The rest really belong in the science fiction genre. I only enjoyed a couple of the stories–the others were quite mediocre and not creepy at all...	#24 The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson Hmm, I have mixed feelings. I liked Jackson’s short story “The Lottery,” so I had high hopes for this book. While I enjoy her writing style (and her knack for shocking endings), the pace of Hill House was a little too slow for my liking. There were moments when the story became slightly scary, but Jackson didn’t go the extra step and take me into ‘I’m afraid to go to sleep now’ territory...
#25 Delirium by Lauren Oliver This is a pretty good book with a really awesome ending. Unlike many other readers, this is the first book by Oliver that I’ve read–I haven’t read Before I Fall yet. She writes beautifully–her narrative is often poetic, but at times I felt that her characters ramble on a little too much...	#26 The Woman in Black by Susan Hill I read this solely because of the forthcoming movie starring Daniel Radcliffe. I was not disappointed. This is a quick, sufficiently creepy read...
#27 Eden Close by Anita Shreve Wow, so...this is a mighty depressing book. I love Anita Shreve's work--she's one of my favorite authors and I'm working my way through all her books. However, Eden Close is not one of my favorites by her...	#28 Girl Parts by John M. Cusick I didn't have very high hopes since this book has lukewarm reviews on Goodreads, but I liked it just fine. The writing was decent, the characters were okay, and the plot wasn't as formulaic as I expected...
#29 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury This is another one of those classics that I never read in school. Now I understand why it's such a classic...	#30 Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan I love this book! At first, I wasn't too sure--the characters seemed so witty for teenagers, kind of in that Dawson's Creek way where everyone speaks far too articulately for their age--but that feeling soon passed...
#31 Looking for Alaska by John Green This is a pretty good book, but I found the second half to be far better than the first half, which felt somewhat random and uninteresting. I wanted to enjoy the characters, but found them largely unlikeable, with the exception of the narrator...	#32 Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn I read this in a day. It's kind of a standard-issue ghost story. Nothing spectacular or terribly surprising here (including the ending, which is obvious from the start)...
#33 The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin An enjoyable, fast-paced mystery. The story reminded me of the movie "Clue" with less slapstick (though there's plenty of fun and comedy in this book). The characters are diverse and interesting, so much that I found myself wanting to know more about some of the supporting characters...	#34 The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky Love, love, love this book. It touches on numerous themes; at its core, it's yet another coming-of-age story, but it's very well done. Charlie might be one of my favorite characters ever...
#35 Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich Yeah, this book is pretty lame. Let me back up. I read this for work and while it's enjoyable in parts, my overall feeling can be summed up in the word "meh"...	#36 Blood on My Hands by Todd Strasser This just didn't work for me. I really should have abandoned it a few chapters in, but my curiosity got the best of me and I just had to find out who the killer was...
#37 Give a Boy a Gun by Todd Strasser ok, so I gave Strasser one more try. I think I've mentioned before that I gravitate toward dark novels and that includes books about school shootings, which is what Give a Boy a Gun is...	#38 Chilly Milly Moo by Fiona Ross And now, for something completely different! I read this (and the following children's books) for storytime at the library and this one is so cute...
#39 A Dog is a Dog by Stephen Shaskan I loved this one! The story starts out with a dog, but then the dog changes into various animals (cat, squid, moose)...	#40 Quiet Bunny & Noisy Puppy by Lisa McCue oh my, this book is too sweet. I think it's a bit longer than the previous two--I feel like it took me a while to read the whole thing to the kids--but it's a really cute story...
#41 Princess Super Kitty by Antoinette Portis eh, this is an okay children's book. It's about a girl named Maggie who likes to pretend she's a kitty. The story is pretty straightforward--she pretends she's a kitty, a princess, and a superhero...	#42 The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin I liked this book more than I probably should have, haha. And by that, I mean that it's very similar to Twilight (so if you didn't like that, absolutely don't read Mara Dyer)...
#43 Divergent by Veronica Roth Like many of the books I read, I chose to read Divergent because there seemed to be a lot of hype surrounding it. Well, I've finally read it. While I wouldn't call it one of my favorite books from this year, I will call it a very enjoyable book...	#44 The Future of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler I've read and liked Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why, so I was intrigued when I heard about The Future of Us. The premise is really clever--what if you signed on to AOL in 1996, only to find yourself looking at your Facebook profile 15 years in the future?...