Another Ten Books I Absolutely Can't Wait For

Dear Blog,
I haven't done one of this posts in an insanely long time, it seems. Well, I should.  Because there are a lot of books that I'm looking forward to that are released later on in the year or in 2012.
So. Without further ado.


The Diviners by Libba Bray- Libba Bray= possibly my favourite historical fiction writer.  New York City in the 1920s = possibly one of my favourite eras. The summary on Goodreads tells me it will be "a wild new ride full of dames and dapper dons, jazz babies and Prohibition-defying parties, conspiracy and prophecy—and all manner of things that go bump in the neon-drenched night."  All I can say is oh my God yes.  Bring it on.

Perfect by Ellen Hopkins- companion novel to Impulse, and is released this autumn.  And look at that cover.  It's so delicious, I could eat it. In fact, when I get a copy I may well have to do so.

Smoke by Ellen Hopkins-Another Ellen Hopkins.  This is a sequel/companion novel to Burned, the ending of which was intense  but very vague.  I haven't heard much of a synopsis about Smoke, either, and it doesn't come out for a good while yet, so we'll see.

 A Million Suns by Beth Revis- Goodreads is killing me. Although it shows the cover, which is by the way absolutely gorgeous, all it says as a synopsis is "The plot of this book is a mystery."  Aaaaargh I want to know what happens right now *explodes*. 

The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges- Russia.  1888.  Teenage debutante and member of the nobility who is also a necromancer. Need I say more?  I must have this book.   

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver- Although I dislike the cover (maybe it will tie in with a paperback cover of Delirium?) which is nothing like that of its predecessor, I am totally looking forward to reading this. The ending of Delirium was so intense and dramatic. However. If there's a love triangle of sorts in this book, I may well scream and rip my hair out, because honestly I dislike nothing more in books, especially when couples go together as well as Lena and Alex and then some unnecessary other character is thrown into the equation for drama.

Audition by Stasia Ward Kehoe- I've probably said before that although I haven't taken ballet lessons for about seven years, I still absolutely love ballet and I just about died when I went to see Swan Lake in London last year.  So when I heard about this book, I was like, Yes!  Also, apparently it's a novel in verse.   Double yes!  There aren't half as many of these sorts of books as there ought to be.

All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin- Even though I wasn't too into Elsewhere, this book does sound interesting. Among other things that intrigue me about this book, I cannot imagine a world without chocolate, i.e the one this book is set in, and it would be interesting to see how the human race functions without the food of the Gods.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin- So, so, so much excitement for this book. I don't really know much about it, because the synopses  I've read have been rather mysterious.  Which probably just adds to my anticipation.  

 

 The Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon- I was initially interested in reading this book because it was discovered on Harpercollins' YA writing site Inkpop, which I was a member of until I forgot my password various other commitments lead me to stopping being addicted to so many websites.

 Although it's true I don't tend to enjoy a lot of the paranormal romances I read, there's very little YA set in Ireland so I look forward to reading some that is. 

Also, the cover intrigues me.  The girl on the front looks both like she's being dragged up and pulled downwards at the same time.

So, there you go.  Are you looking forward to any particular releases at some point in the future?  Any of these?

That's all for today.  Over and out.

In My Mailbox 18 or The One With Christmas

Dear blog,
In My Mailbox, as ever hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren fame.
So.  This is actually two weeks worth of books;

GIFTS/ FOR CHRISTMAS

Burned by Ellen Hopkins (read; review coming soon)

Now I Know and The Toll Bridge by Aidan Chambers (Now I Know review further down the page)

Wait for Me by An Na

Girl In Translation by Jean Kwok

BOUGHT

The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami

South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami (currently reading)

Matched by Ally Condie

Sea by Heidi R Kling

The Tension of Opposites by Kristina McBride

The Mark by Jen Nadol

FROM THE LIBRARY

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (not pictured, 'cause I forgot I had it until after I'd started writing this entry)

To conclude: a satisfying bookish fortnight. 

In My Mailbox 17 or The One with the Classics

Dear Blog,

In My Mailbox, as ever, hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren fame.

This was an interesting week, in which as well as my usual choice of reading material, I braved the dark waters outside my usual comfort zone of teenage fiction, and delved into the classics section of my local library.  The result was:

FOR REVIEW
The Amulet of Smarkand: A Bartimaeus Graphic Novel by Johnathan Stroud and Andrew Donkin

BOUGHT
When I Was a Soldier by Valerie Zenatti
Checkmate by Malorie Blackman

BORROWED (Mostly from the library, but one or two came from relatives)
The  Body Finder by Kimberley Derting (currently reading) (yes, that is a reindeer bookmark.)
The Diary of Ma Yan  by Ma Yan (obvs.)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (after much pestering from my father)
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (also currently reading, but semi-abandoned in my scramble to finish the 2010 Debut Author Challenge)
BUtterfield 8 by John O'Hara
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut (not pictured, the only reason being I only remembered I'd got it this week after I'd taken the picture).
And that was all, I think.  What about you?

Review: Dirty Little Secrets

Dear Blog,
Because I refuse to give up the 2010 Debut Author Challenge, however much I'm failing.

Summary (from Goodreads):  Everyone has secrets. Some are just bigger and dirtier than others.
For sixteen years, Lucy has kept her mother's hoarding a secret. She's had to -- nobody would understand the stacks of newspapers and mounds of garbage so high they touch the ceiling and the rotting smell that she's always worried would follow her out the house. After years of keeping people at a distance, she finally has a best friend and maybe even a boyfriend if she can play it right. As long as she can make them think she's normal.
When Lucy arrives home from a sleepover to find her mother dead under a stack of National Geographics, she starts to dial 911 in a panic, but pauses before she can connect. She barely notices the filth and trash anymore, but she knows the paramedics will. First the fire trucks, and then news cameras that will surely follow. No longer will they be remembered as the nice oncology nurse with the lovely children -- they'll turn into that garbage-hoarding freak family on Collier Avenue.
With a normal life finally within reach, Lucy has only minutes to make a critical decision. How far will she go to keep the family secrets safe?

Review: Whoah. Hang on a minute.  Let me just collect my thoughts together.
...
...
...
Okay.  Now I can begin.
Wow.  Dirty Little Secrets is the most shocking, disgusting and fast-paced novel I've read in a long time- the sort of book that you long to stop reading yet you can't not read on. 

It reminds me a lot of Gayle Forman's If I Stay.  It's set over 24 hours or so, with lots of flashbacks here and there to add extra dimensions to the story.  And unlike many books with flashbacks, in Dirty Little Secrets these little elements of the past are relevant. They give some more background to Lucy's mother's compulsive hoarding, seeing as she's dead for most of the book that takes place in the present. 

Lucy was one of those characters that you couldn't not dislike.  Not with everything that happened to her.  Her voice was clear and direct, even in descriptions never straying away from what needed to be said.  She seemed kind of tough and cynical, I suppose, slightly bitter and even snarky in a way, but she did have underneath all that an interior which was so real and true, that showed that she really did feel
Her mother.  My reaction towards her is kind mixed; do I pity her, or do I just loathe her for messing Lucy's life in such a way? Both, probably, at different times.  The flashbacks portrayed her in the past; but it's hard to see who she was in the present (yeah, you've probably got some clever answer for that)- perhaps who she was would have been different to who she is.  Was, I mean, seeing as she was dead. Eh...now I'm confused.  Moving swiftly on.
Speaking of family- one of my favourite scenes in the book was actually when Lucy's sister  Sara came to visit while she was frantically trying to clear out the house.  I don't know why, but the glimpse into Sara's car...It gave me chills.  I could just see the whole book playing out again, providing that she had a daughter of her own.  I guess it shows how things can appear to be so natural and how the environment can have such an effect on a childhood.

While I'm on this scene, I'll say that the reason it struck me so much was the way it was written.  The writing style was fantastic, for lack of a better word.  You know how some writing styles can be absolutely perfect for the subject matter (examples: Jinx, Green Angel, The Book of Everything)?  Well, Dirty Little Secrets is exactly like that.  C.J. Omololu seems to follow the rule don't use two words when one will do, or don't use a longer one in place of a shorter, but still the descriptions of the house are excellent.  Though one can't be achieved without the other, I'm not a fan of tidiness so much of minimalism, and standing in empty rooms make me happy.  So some of the scenes described made me feel almost claustrophobic, in a way.  I've never wanted to be sucked into a book so much; how I'd want to get into that house and try and restore things to order.  Even though I am unbelievably squeamish and one of those people who if she encounters a spider runs as far away as possible in the nearest direction.  But the way it was written; the descriptions of the house, of Lucy's despair and resentment, the flashbacks; I didn't need to wish that I could be there to attempt to turn things around.  More often than not, I was there. 

The ending.  Hmm.  It was, I suppose, fitting to the rest of the book; brief, rushed, and totally shocking.  But I can't help but ask: Did it really resolve things?  Not entirely, I don't think.   It's hard to discuss too deeply without giving too many things away, which is something I would not want to do.  I'll leave you to make up your mind about it; and I'm not sure I'm a hundred percent convinced.  It resolved things, sort of...for the time being.  One word: Sequel.
Oh my God yes.

To conclude; despite what may or may not be a slightly disappointing ending, Dirty Little Secrets is an excellent, excellent book that shouldn't be missed among the hordes of awesome debuts- no pun intended- that have been released this year. 

In Three Words: Shocking, disgusting, powerful.
Recommended for: Everyone.  Seriously.
Rating : 5

Review: I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert

Dear Blog.

NaNoWriMo is over, which means that I've got more time now for book-reviewing.  All my time got sucked into an infinite void of writing, writing and more writing.  Anyway, it's over now, so you can expect many more reviews from me.

Summary (from Goodreads): A raw, edgy, emotional novel about growing up punk and living to tell.

The Clash. Social Distortion. Dead Kennedys. Patti Smith. The Ramones.

Punk rock is in Emily Black's blood. Her mother, Louisa, hit the road to follow the incendiary music scene when Emily was four months old and never came back. Now Emily's all grown up with a punk band of her own, determined to find the tune that will bring her mother home. Because if Louisa really is following the music, shouldn't it lead her right back to Emily?

Review: First things first- if there is one thing that you need to know about me it is that I am totally obsessed with music. 
However, armed with a classical guitar and a double bass, Mia of If I Stay is more my calling.  Still, whether it's rock or baroque I love books involving music because no matter what the genre or era or instrument, the passion for the sound and such is the same.  So I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone is one of those books that makes me want to punch the air and yell, "heck yeah!"  This is what it's all about. 

I should probably mention that it is in some respects a very clichéd book, and the plot is hugely overdone. There's mothers who abandon their daughters, quests to find aforementioned mothers,  drug addictions, underground venues, stalkers, cigarettes, abuse, and casual sex among other things.  It has all the trademarks of a sex-drugs-rock 'n' roll novel.  Yet it's still enjoyable escapism, and you can't help but want to go along for the ride (especially if you've spent a while trying to conquer something with a title like Etude Opus. 60, no.5 in A Minor) (which I frequently do). 

The star of the show, no wordplay intended, is Emily Black, the tough lead singer in her punk-rock trio She Laughs.  She is for the most part fearless and gutsy, but her emotions are really what drives her-  for instance, she spends a year going across America trying to search for her mother. She's intelligent, I suppose, but you can't help but snort at her impulsive recklessness now and again.  But, well, it wouldn't be any fun if she didn't take such risks, would it?

The story is told through her point of view, most of the time (I'll get to the parts that aren't in a minute). Her voice seems kind of careless, as if looking back on her past she really thinks nothing of everything that she goes through.  She sounds kind of distant, if that makes sense, as if just casually recounting the events of a slightly boring day rather than actually her teenage years up until the age of about twenty-three, the later years of which totally change her life.   But she sounds so calm about it, like, "Yeah, and then my supposed boyfriend tried to kill me, and I had to run away.  It was really no biggie."
There are a few chapters, however, describing the comings and goings on Emily's mother, Louisa, which are told in a distant kind of third-person, portraying her life and coming back to her now and again while Emily is growing up.
I suppose one of my main complaints might be- it takes a very long time  to really get going.  It reminds me a little of The Hunger Games is that the real stuff doesn't come into it until about a hundred pages in.  But the first 100 pages sort of build up to that, describing her childhood and early teen years, and how she had decided that rock-n-roll was the path she wanted to follow from a young age.  It's not exciting, but it's essential, and so worth getting through.
 
Still, it makes for an interesting read.  It's a teenage book, but I think that those who are now adults who were teens in the 90s, when most of the book takes place, would enjoy it too.  Especially if they were as into music as Emily was. I, however, missed out on this, being a small girl who watched The Wild Thornberrys  at the time.   Such recent times seem kind of unvisited in teenage fiction, so I found it pretty interesting. Like something I missed out on because I was a) too small and b) too busy wishing that my parents had a comvee. not from a small town in the Midwest with a huge empty warehouse in which bands turn up to make music and stagedive. 
 
Anyway.   Read it, and see for yourself.  You'll either think it's hugely overdone and a shaky sort of debut novel, or else you'll just be able to toss that aside and go along for the ride.
 
In Three Words: Gritty, musical, exhilarating.
Reccomended for: teenagers...and adults, too.
Rating: 3.5

Review: Guantanamo Boy

Dear Blog,

Summary (from Goodreads): For Khalid, the war on terror  just got personal.

Fifteen-year-old Khalid likes seeing his friends, playing football down the park, the normal things. He isn't too excited about going to visit his family in Pakistan, but his mum and dad want him to come with them. So he goes.   And a living nightmare begins.

Khalid is kidnapped and forced to go to a place no teenager should ever see. A place where torture and terror are the normal things. Somewhere he doesn't know if he will ever escape from.
A place called Guantanamo Bay.

Review: I first saw this on my friends' bookshelf a few years ago.  I saw the cover and the title and I was like, OMG where did you get this book I must read it now.    And  then I found a copy in a library and, naturally, borrowed it.   

Well, where can I start?  Guantanamo Boy is the most difficult, disturbing book I've read in a long time.  Yet I read it in a morbidly fascinated sort of way to find out what was going to happen next- the sort of book where you both want to throw it out the window and go and watch a cheerful Disney movie instead, and both read on in the hope that something good might happen.  I won't give much of the plot away, because you'll have to read it and see for yourself. 

You can't not like Khalid, the protagonist of the book.  Because it's just so wrong that at aged fifteen he should be accused of terrorism and have to be subject to such torture- things like being tied to a board and then tipped backwards into a tub of water until he confessed to crimes he didn't commit, and being chained to the floor and having his eardrums practically burst and such.  It's kind of hard to describe such scenes- on one hand it was too terrible to be happening to an ordinary teenager, to anybody, but on the other I guess it could have been  a lot more graphic (I'm glad it wasn't).

I suppose in that case, then,  it's very emotionally draining.  So much of the book is focused on Khalid's thoughts and emotions.  Which makes sense for two reasons: 1) in the 2 years he is in Guantanamo, a lot of it was pretty uneventful, and 2) that makes him a much more believable character who you can really feel for, whose thoughts you can really see into.  I think that was the most affecting thing about the book.

The ending was...strange.  It felt very surreal, perhaps because the reader gets as used to the bleak solitariness (real word?  I guess not) of Guantanamo as Khalid does.  The conclusion seemed kind of rushed and "oh, that's it?"  It seems kind of hard to accept that after everything he's been through, the book ends at that stage, with everything (seemingly) wrapped up nicely.  It's supposed to be satisfying, I think, but the rest of the book was so difficult to read, it seemed a little irritating.

At first the writing style seemed to get on my nerves- it was so simplistic, with little description.  And when there is it's very basic indeed,  I guess to convey the stark nature of the book (which I think the cover sums up perfectly).  Also, Khalid is no poet but your average teenage boy, so the writing style, however basic it may be,  makes sense I suppose. 

This is one of those books that absolutely everyone should read regardless of age and background.  Whether you're a teenage boy or a 40-year-old politician then it will no doubt at least make you think.  It will certainly change your attitudes to terrorism. In that respect it's a very thought-provoking book without being overly preachy and "death to America."  Which was pleasing.

In three words: unforgettable, disturbing, heartbreaking.
Recommended for: everyone. 
Rating: 5.