National Book Festival 2012

I went to the National Book Festival on September 22 with my friend Andrea.  This was my first trip to the book extravaganza and it was awesome.  All those books!  All those people!  All those people excited about books!  Amazing!

 

Being our first National Book Festival, we opted to simply wander around soaking in the sights instead of following a set schedule to hear our favorite authors.  Armed with a better understanding of how the Fest works, I hope to hear more of those authors next year!

Thoughts: Looking for Alaska

Title: Looking for Alaska
Author: John Green
Year: 2005
Length: 221
Source: Owned
First Lines: "Everybody was sitting on sleeping bags, Alaska smoking with flagrant disregard for the overwhelming flammability of the structure, when the Colonel pulled out a single piece of computer paper and read from it."

Summary from goodreads: Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

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 Looking for Alaska is, perhaps, one of the saddest books I have ever read.  Beautifully written, but overwhelming tragic.  This was my John Green novel.  I have only heard good things about his work.  I was not disappointed, just left feeling extremely sad for these characters.  Looking for Alaska felt very real to me, portraying one of the worst ways to come of age.  I think these kinds of situations happen all too often in today's world. 

On a lighter note, I loved that Miles could quote the last words of famous people.  It is that kind of quirky trait that makes characters enduring and memorable to me.  I look forward to my next John Green novel.  

I started Looking for Alaska without realizing how devastating the plot would become for Alaska, Miles, and the Colonel.  Although I hope for happier outcomes in Green's other books, I am choosing to remain in the dark about their storylines.  I think my lack of information about Looking for Alaska made the emotional impact that much greater, and it is refreshing to be that moved by a book.     

Note: I read this book in January.  I just found the thoughts I had written, but never posted.  I know it seems like I've abandoned the book blog.  I don't want to give it up completely.  I've just been more focused lately on trying to keep track of life in general at By Hand With Heart.

Saturday Sentiment

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thoughts: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Title: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Author: Michelle Hodkin
Year: 2011
Length: 452
Source: Owned
First Lines: "My name is not Mara Dyer, but my lawyer told me I had to choose something.  A pseudonym."

Summary from goodreads: Mara Dyer doesn't think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can. She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed. There is. She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love. She's wrong.

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I do not usually read from the paranormal genre.  So, I was a bit surprised with the turn of events in The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer.  As you can see, the above description does not exactly indicate such a plot.  I guess I pictured something more along the lines of Before I Fall or If I Stay.  

By the end of the book, I found myself a little confused and wondering what the heck was going on!  Even though I am not in love with this book, I am interested in finding out what happens to Mara and Noah.  The second book, The Evolution of Mara Dryer, is set for an October 23, 2012 publication. 

Saturday Sentiment

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Albert Camus

Thoughts: Thirteen Reasons Why

Title: Thirteen Reasons Why
Author: Jay Asher
Year: 2007
Length: 288 pages 
Source: Owned
First Lines: "'Sir?' she repeats.  'How soon do you want it to get there?'  I rub two fingers, hard, over my left eyebrow.  The throbbing has become intense.  'It doesn't matter,' I say."


It took me far longer to read Thirteen Reasons Why than I ever expected.  I certainly wanted to find out what happened, but it was just so sad.  I could not bear to read it over the holidays.  So I put it down for a few weeks.  When I finally picked it back up in January, I finished it in a few sittings.  About halfway through, Thirteen Reasons Why really grabbed hold and propelled me to finish as quickly as possible.

Thirteen Reasons Why is a difficult, but moving book.  Suicide, especially by a teenager, is hard to understand.  There is so much life left to live.  To think that spark can be extinguished in an instant is frightening.  In this story, Hannah explains exactly why she decided to kill herself, specifically recording thirteen reasons which correspond to various people in her life.

I cannot imagine being on the receiving end of one of those tapes.  How do you handle knowing not only that you contributed to another person's suicide, but that that person also went to fairly extraordinary measures to ensure that you knew explicitly what you had done?

For me, this was the key point of Thirteen Reasons Why.  Your actions, however inconsequential they may seem, impact others' lives for better or worse.  Perhaps even more powerful is inaction.  I think that sometimes the failure to act or speak on what we know is right may be even worse than acting or speaking upon that which we know is wrong.

Elie Wiesel said it best:

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.  The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.  The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.  And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.

Choose to read Thirteen Reasons Why and choose to challenge yourself. Everyone matters. We can each make a difference in another life.

Thoughts: Wither

Title: Wither
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Year: 2011
Length: 358 
Source: Public Library
First Line: "I wait."

The dystopian world of Wither is perhaps one of the most plausible to date, at least for me.  In this world, genetic engineering has gone to such extremes that people no longer live long, full lives.  Women die at age 20.  Men die at age 25.  I find this a little horrifying and a bit too realistic for comfort.  It is much easier for me to ignore the implications of other YA dystopian worlds.

Sadly, efforts to keep the population alive lead to the kidnapping of young girls who are forced into polygamous marriages.  They are, in essence, baby makers, which reminded me a little bit of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.  

Kidnapped Rhine becomes one of the wives of the somewhat pathetic Linden.  I alternated between despising Linden and feeling pity for him.  I never could reach a middle ground with him.  However, I admired Rhine's spirit and determination to escape her cruel fate. 

I heard about Wither through the ravings of other bloggers.  It took me a while to get into it; after I did, I flew through the second half of the book.  Naturally, this is the first book of a trilogy, The Chemical Garden Trilogy to be exact.  I am interested in finding out what happens to Rhine so I will keep reading.  Fever, the second book, is set for a February 21 release.  

Thoughts: Lola and the Boy Next Door

Title: Lola and the Boy Next Door
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Year: 2011
Length:  338 pages
Source: Owned
First Lines: "I have three simple wishes.  They're really not too much to ask.  The first is to attend the winter formal dressed like Marie Antoinette."

I was a bit hesitant going in to Lola and the Boy Next Door.  It sat on my shelf for a couple of months.  How could it possibly compare to my love for Anna and the French Kiss?  However, last week, I craved something fun and light while on vacation from work.  And I was not disappointed.  I love Lola, too!

I did not realize that Lola is actually a companion book to Anna.  What a happy surprise to find Anna and Etienne happily running around in Lola's world!  I will not put off reading the final companion book, Isla and the Happily Ever After, when it comes out this year.  I cannot wait!

Back to Lola.  It took me several chapters before I fully gave in to loving Lola.  She is very different from me.  I will never be brave enough to have such a unique and imaginative sense of style.  Lola actually reminds me of a friend from high school.  She started off making her own clothes and continues to win fashion design competitions to this day.  Such talent!  So while I would not consider myself a Lola, I can relate to her and be her friend.  Kind of like Lindsey, Lola's best friend in the book.

On to the boys.  When the book begins, Lola is dating Max, an older musician of whom her parents do not approve.  I cannot say that I liked Max much either.  I guess I can understand the teen girl urge to date the bad boy, but I was prejudiced from the outset because I knew to expect someone better.  That someone is Cricket.  Yes, Cricket is a strange name for a boy.  But I loved him.  More than Etienne.  Shocking, I know. 

I am not going to delve into the actual plot, but I do want to mention the supporting characters.  They were so rich and memorable.  Each one obviously served a purpose related to the overall Lola story, but I could probably read a book about one of them, too.

Bottom line: Read Lola and the Boy Next Door so you can swoon like a tween girl at a Justin Bieber concert.  Except better, because the Beebs is not involved.  But first, you should read Anna and the French Kiss, if you have not done so already.  It will make you happy!

2012 Reading Resolutions

In 2011, I read 40 new books and 4 rereads.  In 2012, I am aiming for 50 new books.  I typed that in at Goodreads this afternoon, so clearly it is official!  I have outlined the following reading resolutions for 2012 in an attempt to read and blog with more purpose.  Hold me accountable!

1. Read more of my own books.
I own a lot of books.  Shamefully, there are a bunch of them that I have never read.  I will read from own shelves in 2012.  I am too chicken to say that I cannot buy any new books, so instead, I will try to read two of my own books for every new book I buy.  Likewise, I will try to read one of my own books for every book I check out of the library.   

2. Read more classics.
2011 was a fun reading year for me.  However, the majority of the books I read were young adult fiction.  I love YA books and will continue to read them in 2012, but I want to read more classics, too.  I am aiming for at least 10 this year.  Specifically, I know I want to read my remaining Austen titles and The Great Gatsby (because I will want to see the movie in December). 

3. Write better blog posts.
Granted, this is vague; however, I want to put more effort into writing my thoughts about the books I read.  Lately, I have been in a slump.  I need to stop being lazy about writing posts.  At the end of the day, I am cheating myself by not putting more effort into writing down my thoughts.  After all, the primary objective of this blog is to record my thoughts for me, so that I can remember what I have read and how I felt about it. 

4. Allow myself to reread.
Sometimes I get the urge to reread a favorite book from the past.  I usually do not let myself because there is always something new to read.  This year, I am going to try to put aside those feelings.  If I feel like rereading a book, I will.