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I read more books in 2009 than I had in 2008, so I have quite a few to choose from. Here are my favorites from this year:
Slightly spoilery post follows, but mostly it’s a comparison/contrast between this book and Twilight. I heard that this book was like Twilight, but with angels instead of vampires. I figured I’d give it a try. Young adult fiction is so fun to read. For one thing, it’s easy to read, which means the reading tends to go by rather quickly. Reading YA novels is like knitting a hat with chunky yarn: instant gratification. And of course, it’s no secret that I’m Twilight obsessed. I have to say, Hush, Hush is pretty similar to Twilight. There’s a teenage girl, Nora, who is drawn to a mysterious boy at school, Patch. But he’s got a secret that’s he’s keeping from her and everyone else in town. Oh, and it’s obvious that he’s a fallen angel–just look at the book cover (which is rather awesome, by the way). The official “reveal,” though, doesn’t take place until late in the story. The climax of the novel was kind of iffy for me. I sped through the first half to two-thirds of the book, but slowed down just when the plot was being fully revealed. I think the story lost some momentum at that point. Also, I wasn’t crazy about the ending–it felt kind of flat and wasn’t very well written. But again, overall the book is a nice bit of fluff, and I did enjoy it. Maybe I shouldn’t keep comparing it to Twilight, but I guess it’s kind of unavoidable when both books seem to follow the same formula. Nora is definitely less annoying than Bella Swan. Nora’s not as needy and whiny, though she does make questionable choices. She is headstrong, but she’s feisty in a way that Bella just isn’t. Book Bella is just ridiculous sometimes (some would say, all the time). Bella’s way too old-fashioned and unrealistic (”Holy crow!”), whereas Nora clearly lives in the 21st century. In other words, in the Bella vs. Nora smackdown, my money is on Nora. Also: no sparkly vampires in this book. Sexy fallen angels, yes. By the way–Hush, Hush is much spicier than Twilight. There’s no full-on sexin’, but there’s a blessed lack of Twilight’s super cheese, i.e. “marble skin,” “scintillating arms,” etc., etc. Thank goodness. Apparently, there’s going to be a sequel to Hush, Hush called Crescendo, which I’m sure I’ll read. Sometimes, fluffy fiction is all I want, and this book definitely served its purpose. It’s somewhat mindless entertainment, and good fun.
Dec
16
2009
 
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey NiffeneggerPosted by sassenach in 52 Books in 52 Weeks, Bookworm
Slightly spoilery post follows. It took me a few weeks to get through this. I wanted to like this book, I really did. Mainly because I enjoyed The Time Traveler’s Wife so much. However, Her Fearful Symmetry is a very different type of novel in comparison. It has a supernatural element, and I love a good ghost story. It also has a great ensemble cast of characters (though some are certainly more sympathetic than others). Despite all this, I just couldn’t quite “get into” the book. The story revolves largely around Valentina and Julia, twin sisters who move to London when their aunt Elspeth dies. She has left them her flat and most of her belongings, though they never knew her. Their mother, Edie, was Elspeth’s twin sister, but they were estranged during the years that Valentina and Julia were growing up. If you’re slightly confused already, don’t feel too bad because I spent much of the book feeling confused. At first, I found the twins’ (Valentina and Julia, that is) relationship very strange. To me, there is something very creepy about 21-year-olds dressing exactly alike and being practically attached at the hip constantly. One never goes anywhere or does anything without the other. I feel more sympathetic toward Valentina, who is a sensitive, introspective girl. Julia can be caring, but she also has an underlying selfishness and immaturity that bothered me quite a bit at first. That changes, but not in the manner I expected. Another character I liked is Martin, who lives in the flat above Valentina and Julia’s. He has obsessive-compulsive disorder and because of this, I felt nothing but pity for him at first. Throughout the course of the story, however, my feelings toward him warmed and I came to like his character very much. I was also satisfied with the resolution of his storyline. There’s a twist ending, I suppose you could call it, but it’s kind of odd. When the climax of the novel is revealed, I wasn’t entirely surprised by it. I had guessed part of it early on–maybe a few chapters in?–and the other part of the twist really, really annoyed me. I was not happy with it. In fact, when I got to the last page of the book, I turned it in expectation I’d continue reading because I expected another chapter that might clarify, help explain what I just read. I just wasn’t happy with the way the story was wrapped up. To me, it felt like the first third of the book was intriguing, the middle was slow, and the final third was slightly…random. And not in a good way. As I said before, I love supernatural stories, but the ending of this one just bugged me because it didn’t seem to have been planned out well. Compared with the rest of the book, the final few chapters felt off balance–not as fully developed. Overall, sadly, I didn’t enjoy the book. However, I do like Niffenegger’s writing style–The Time Traveler’s Wife is such a compelling read. For this reason, I’m sure I’ll read her future books. After I finished HFS, I read some reviews online, and opinions of the book are rather mixed. Readers either loved the book, or had the same feeling about it that I had. I wouldn’t say I hated it, but I had higher expectations for it, given the quality of her debut novel.
As with my post for The Hunger Games, this will be spoiler-free because I think you should go read both books right now! (If you haven’t already, that is.) I wasn’t sure if this book would live up to the first, but I was not disappointed at all. This sequel is fantastic! As with The Hunger Games, I didn’t know much about the plot of Catching Fire beforehand. So, I was surprised by many things that took place. I found this to be another quick read; it’s certainly filled with action, but the writing is as good as the first book. There’s just as much suspense and excitement as the last time. There’s plenty more I’d like to say, but again, everything would be filled with major spoilers with regard to the plot/characters/etc. So…go read the books. I’m looking forward to the third (and final) novel in this series. Thankfully, I don’t have to wait too long, as it’s scheduled to be published in August 2010. So…I’m a week away from my deadline on 52 Books in 52 Weeks, and to date I’ve read 31 books. Not even close to the 52 I’d hoped to read this past year. |
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I can’t wait for the third novel, which comes out later in 2010.
boo. I fail. Actually, not entirely–I mean, 31 books are better than zero, and that’s probably way more than I would have read normally, had I not challenged myself. But now I’m bummed because I wanted to meet my goal! oh well. I think I’ll keep going until February, at least (when I go back to school for my final semester). Hopefully by then, I’ll have reached 52. Maybe. 
sassenach
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