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. This was a quick read not because the writing was so great, but because it’s really more of a novella (a slim 150 pages) and because the chapters are SO short. Seriously, some chapters are one sentence long. Like this:

Sometimes, this is a whole chapter.

Or this:

Here’s a deep, profound statement that is SO deep and SO profound that no other words are necessary in this particular chapter.

(That last sentence was longer than many of the chapters in this book.)

I kept reading because I wanted to see if the author would turn the story into a true science fiction tale (which she really doesn’t). I will say that the ending was probably my favorite part of the book. I can’t say that I enjoyed the characters much, if at all. Mal is kind of relatable most of the time but other times he just annoyed me because he is so stinking emo. I was sad that his dad deserted the family and his mom was an alcoholic, but…I don’t know. I didn’t care about his character as much as I should have.

To sum it up, I think the book had the potential to be better than it is and I was left disappointed.

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? I get it, that type of oversight is what makes the whole plot possible, but it just seemed too easy to say, ‘oh, the scientists underestimated the impact.’ Anyway, I just decided to go with it and consider the possibility. The result is a real horror story, actually–tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, mass casualties. This story speaks to most people’s primal fears about the truly uncontrollable aspects of our lives.

As a narrator, Miranda kind of irritated me at first, but I think that might have been intentional. At the book’s start, she is a typical teenager–whiny and fairly self-centered the majority of the time–but as the story progresses, she turns into quite a mature, responsible survivor. Eventually, I appreciated her character and wanted things to turn out okay for her and her family in the end.

Speaking of which, the ending fell a *little* flat for me. It wasn’t corny, but it felt a little too tidy. Put simply, I feel that more of the main characters should have died; realistically, that’s probably what would have happened. But overall, I enjoyed the book and have already bought the other two books in the trilogy (which, to my surprise, turned out to be companion books rather than true sequels; however, I’ll still be reading them both).

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?

If Goodreads allowed us to give half stars, I would have given this 3.5 out of 5. This is such a cute book! I loved all the 90s references–AOL, Windows 95, scrunchies, VCRs…the list goes on. As with many novels that have some time travel element, the details get kind of dicey here and there. But overall, I found The Future of Us really fun and sweet. The ending is pretty ambiguous but I think it fits the story.

Lastly, I’m kind of surprised at the scathing reviews for this on Goodreads. Seriously, the book is not that awful! It’s not my favorite, but it’s hardly a waste of time either. In fact, if you want a nice, lighthearted YA read, I recommend this.

I’m kind of glad I’ve seen the movie version of The Shining because I already know how the story ends. I’m still reading the book and it’s interesting, but for some reason I keep falling asleep whenever I try to read it! It’s really annoying. It doesn’t matter if I read at night or during the day, either. So weird. I’m going to finish reading the book, but at this rate, it’s going to take me a while.

I had to work on Saturday but it was a pleasant, short shift. So I’m off tomorrow, which is really nice. Even though I don’t love working Saturdays, I do like having the following Monday off (good way to avoid a Case of the Mondays, you understand).

M and I had a case of spring cleaning (or winter cleaning, I suppose) earlier today. We cleaned out the kitchen cabinets and counters–it looks so much nicer in there now! And I feel even better about having done that because right now I’m watching Hoarding: Buried Alive on TLC and it’s freaking me out. I don’t know why I’m so addicted to these trainwreck shows. I have no reasons. I always feel terrible for the hoarders and their families, especially when they acknowledge that they have a disorder but they don’t know how to overcome it…it’s so sad.

Anyway, I plan on being very lazy on my day off tomorrow because that is what I do. I’ll probably spend a good part of the day doing some secret knitting and watching a lot of Netflix + Amazon Instant Video. Such is the life of a semi-hermit!

My first thought was to say Diana Gabaldon, but then I would feel guilty because I still haven’t read her latest Outlander novel. (I’m not a good fan lately!) Also, I met her back in 2007 and, in my starstruck state, couldn’t manage more than “I LOVE YOUR BOOKS I’M SO EXCITED TO MEET YOUUUU!!!” So yeah. Not sure I would do well in an interview with her.

Actually, I think I’d like to interview Anita Shreve because I adore her books and I find her writing style very inspiring. There’s a distinctly dark quality to her novels and I get the sense that she’s gone through a lot of pain in her life. I don’t expect that she would talk about that with a complete stranger, but I would like to hear about her writing process.

Since I seem to do pretty well when I set these challenges for myself, I’m going to set another one for 2012. This time, I’m going to pick a list of books that for whatever reason, I haven’t read yet but I really want to read them in 2012. Here’s the list, in no particular order.

Reading Goals for 2012

1. 1984 by George Orwell – I confess, I started this once but didn’t finish it. I think I got a little bored about halfway through. I’m determined to finish it since it’s a classic and I feel like I’m missing out by not having finished it.
2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee – Yes, another classic that I’ve never read. I’m sort of embarrassed to admit that but I hope to change that in 2012!
3. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith – Are you starting to see a pattern here? See above!
4. Lord of the Flies by William Golding – Maybe I should just call 2012 the Year of Reading Classics, haha. Actually, this is another one that I started but didn’t get very far with, but I think I’m going to enjoy it a lot.
5. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood – I watched the movie several years ago and it was really great, so I’m sure the book is that much better.
6. The Stand by Stephen King – I’ve seen the miniseries and enjoyed it quite a bit (despite the cheesy special effects), but I’ve heard some amazing things about the book. Apparently, many consider this to be King’s magnum opus, so I’m really excited about reading it. It’s quite a long novel, but I think I’m up to the challenge.
7. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak – Of all the books on my list, this is one of the most recent books but one that has very positive reviews. I did attempt to read this a few years ago but didn’t get very far, so I’m going to give it another try.
8. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese – This is one that I’m still unsure about, but it’s had such a tremendous response and almost universally good reactions. I think this one might surprise me.
9. The Passage by Justin Cronin – If I don’t read this in 2012, I’ll probably never read it. I do want to find out if it’s as good as so many people say.
10. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte – Yes, it’s another classic that I haven’t read! Of all the books on this list, I feel like I’m the least likely to read this one just because I have this impression in my mind that it’s going to be tougher to read. So I’m not making any guarantees on this one, but I will try.

It’ll be really interesting to see which books from this list I’ll succeed in finishing. In the past several months, I’ve really embraced the library book and along with it, the concept of abandoning a book if I’m just not enjoying it. So many of these are classics, but I won’t hesitate to give up on them if I find them boring! My limit is usually 75 pages or so (50 pages if it’s really bad) before I give up on a book.

Do note, however, that it’s very formulaic: dystopian YA, teenage girl, love interest, etc. But that’s what I like, so…yeah. It’s an interesting mix, though–kind of like The Hunger Games meets The Matrix meets Inception…if that makes sense.

It took me a few chapters to get into the flow, but once the story picked up, it became a real page-turner and I stayed up a bit too late to finish it. There’s one part toward the end that felt a little hokey and slowed the narrative for me, but other than that, I don’t have many complaints. In fact, I really appreciated the presence of strong female characters (and some that are pretty badass in general). Lastly, I was surprised that the author ‘went there’ toward the end–I don’t want to post any spoilers, so I’ll leave it at that! I plan on reading the sequel when it comes out.

Also, the book surprised me somewhat–early on, I thought the story was going to wind up being super predictable and lame, but it kind of veered off into this unexpected territory and that was nice. Also, the plot became pretty suspenseful at times, to the point where I really didn’t want to put the book down because I had to see how it would end. So that was nice, too.

oh, and sorry to bring up Twilight again, but Mara Dyer has some pretty steamy scenes in comparison. There’s a lot of innuendo and raunchiness at times, which I was kind of surprised about because this book is recommended for 14+, but as an adult, I found it entertaining. I’ll be reading the sequel once it is released.

I never receive books as gifts–I think the people in my life know that I’m always reading, so they probably have no clue which books I’ve already read or already own! On that note, I don’t give books as gifts (with the exception of knitting pattern books; I’ve given those in the past). It’s just so tough to know what someone already owns and I wouldn’t want them to end up with extra copies.

The writing was so disjointed–it skipped through time every chapter (present tense vs. past tense). While this created suspense and kept me reading, it also felt very uneven because I just wanted the writing style to be consistent.

Callie’s flight from the police was pretty far-fetched; I’m really supposed to believe that a 17-year-old can evade an entire police force? I know it’s a small town, but I don’t think so.

I had hoped that the resolution would be worth it, but it lacked credibility and the ending REALLY bothered me. I’m debating whether I want to read anything else by this author. I’ll probably give him one more shot, but unfortunately I just can’t recommended Blood on My Hands.

– – –

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. This is disturbing subject matter, but the author didn’t make me care about the characters enough.

The fictional narrative is interspersed with actual statistics and anecdotes about real school shootings (in the form of footnotes), which are certainly relevant (and sad), but which also make the story feel disjointed. I think I’ll avoid this author in the future.

– – –

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! It’s about a cow named Milly Moo who’s different from the other cows. They make fun of her because she’s always too hot to produce milk, but it turns out that there’s something very special about Milly Moo.

I liked the story more than the illustrations–I feel like the pictures could have been more colorful and bright. But they were still fun and the book really is cute.

– – –

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). It’s still the dog inside each different costume, but descriptions are given about the other types of animals. (This kind of makes more sense when you’re actually reading the book.) I’m not sure that the five-year-olds I read to understood that it was still the dog at the end of the story, but the rhymes are very fun and the pictures are nice and bright.

– – –

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.

Quiet Bunny doesn’t have anyone to play with since his friends are hibernating or migrating for the winter. Then he meets Noisy Puppy, who is obviously very different from him…but the two end up being best friends. The moral of the story, of course, is that everyone is different but we can still get along with each other in spite of that.

At the end of the story, it’s spring and Noisy Puppy has to go back to his farm (to be a working dog, I think?). But next winter, he visits Quiet Bunny again, this time as a bigger dog. Soooo adorable!

– – –

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.

It’s fun to read but it’s definitely my least favorite of the books I read to the kids. Overall, it’s cute but I feel like the story would have flowed better if it had been written in rhyme…or maybe had different illustrations? I don’t know, I just felt like something was missing. It’s a decent kids’ book, though.

– – –

I like how my job at the library has got me reading things I don’t normally read–namely, children’s books! Since I don’t have kids, I usually don’t have the need to read things at this level. This is fun and different for me.

I am now two book reviews away from being all caught up, hurray!