February 20, 2012 by sassenach
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. I’ve previously read Green’s Looking for Alaska and didn’t love it, but I had hope for The Fault in Our Stars. I’m so glad I decided to read it because I ADORE this book.
The subject matter is pretty bleak. Hazel and Augustus are brought together by their mutual experiences with cancer. I really don’t want to spoil the story, so just allow me to repeat: I cried no fewer than nine times during the duration of my reading. The story is about love, life, death, hope…it’s just beautiful and it made me feel SO MANY FEELINGS and I just didn’t want to say goodbye to the characters after I finished the novel.
My only criticism: the majority of the teen characters, especially Hazel and Augustus, suffer from what I (and many others) think of as Dawson’s Creek Syndrome. They speak way too elevated for their ages (to the point of being unrealistic dialogue). I just kind of shrugged it off and went with it. They’re pretty witty, as characters go, and at times I forgot that they were supposed to be teenagers. All that aside, the writing itself is excellent and the characters are ones that I cared deeply about.
A good book can entertain or amuse you, but a great book will stay with you after you’ve turned the final page. The Fault in Our Stars is a great book.
Category: Reading, Reads of 2012 | Tags: mademecry, youngadult | 1 Comment
February 20, 2012 by sassenach
Oops, I haven’t blogged in a month. Perhaps that’s why my NetGalley requests haven’t been updated, hmm? Thankfully, I’ve had a three-day weekend, which has been quite relaxing and which means I have time and motivation to blog.
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. That’s pretty much the entire story. How the author gets there, however, is disturbing and–at times–straight-up sick. I felt really uncomfortable reading this book, but not in a ‘wow, what an amazing message’ kind of way. By the time I finished, I wanted to wrap myself in a blanket and sit in a corner, rocking back and forth and muttering to myself. The book is *that* troubling. I think I only finished it because it’s pretty short (227 pages)–if it had been much longer, I might have left it unfinished.
I think we all know that humans are capable of very depraved acts, but it’s that much more troubling when those acts are committed by teens or children. I can’t say that I recommend this book because I just found it really depressing and soul-sucking. The author’s point hit home; I just didn’t like the manner in which it was revealed to me.
Trigger warnings: violence against animals, violence between children/teens.
Category: Reading, Reads of 2012 | Tags: soulsucking, youngadult | No Comments
January 16, 2012 by sassenach
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. 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.
Category: Reading, Reads of 2012 | Tags: meh, teenagewoecake, youngadult | No Comments
January 9, 2012 by sassenach
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? 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).
Category: Reading, Reads of 2012 | Tags: postapocalyptic, youngadult | 2 Comments
December 30, 2011 by sassenach
2011 has definitely been a year of reading for me. Unfortunately, this means that I didn’t knit as much this year, but I think I’m okay with that since I really wanted to focus on books in 2011. Back in December 2010, I set a reading goal for myself to read at least 31 books this year (11 more than I read in 2010). I’m pretty happy to say that I surpassed my goal! According to Goodreads, I read 44 titles this year. I say ‘titles’ because three were short stories, one was a novella, and four were children’s (picture) books. So if I don’t count those, then I still read 36 novels/proper ‘books,’ if you will. Not bad! 
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
- 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.
- 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!
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith – Are you starting to see a pattern here? See above!
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Category: Reading, Reads of 2011, Reads of 2012 | Tags: | 6 Comments
