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.

**********

 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.

**********

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. 

Thoughts: Anna and the French Kiss

Title: Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Year: 2010
Length: 372 pages
First Lines: "Here is everything I know about France: Madeline and Amélie and Moulin Rouge.  The Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, although I have no ideas what the function of either actually is.  Napoleon, Marie Antoinette, and a lot of kings names Louis."


I read Anna and the French Kiss during the read-a-thon in October.  I LOVED it!  Love.  Love. Love.  It just makes me happy!  Seriously.  I can't even explain it.  Just go read it immediately!

And because the previous sentences did not actually explain anything, here is a brief description from Goodreads:

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris - until she meets Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.

As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near - misses end with the French kiss Anna - and readers - have long awaited?

Thoughts: Divergent

Title: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth
Year: 2011
Length: 487 pages
First Lines: "There is one mirror in my house.  It is behind a sliding panel in the hallway upstairs.  Our faction allows me to stand in front of it on the second day of every third month, the day my mother cuts my hair."


I went to Chicago for the first time this year and loved it!  I think my newly discovered appreciation for the city added a little something extra to my reading Divergent.  I suspect that the dystopian Chicago of the future intrigued me more than it would have had I not been there fairly recently.

I actually read Divergent at the end of October.  I must admit, I'm a little hazy on the details now.  All of the typical aspects of young adult dystopian novels were present.  I did enjoy reading Divergent.  It entertained me and then I moved on, I guess. 

I suppose Tris's bravery is the one thing that has stuck with me.  I am not sure I could make some of the decisions that this character makes throughout the book.  Side note: The tween girl inside me also liked Tris's relationship with Four.  Naturally, this is a trilogy and I do plan on reading the other books.

Many readers must like it because Divergent was chosen as the Favorite Book of 2011 and the Best Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy book in the 2011  Goodreads Choice Awards. 

Here is the description from Goodreads:

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself. 

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves… or it might destroy her.

Saturday Sentiment

There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book.

Marcel Proust

Hunger Games Official Trailer

First official trailer.  Obsessed.

Saturday Sentiment

Celebrate your success and find humor in your failures.  Don't take yourself so seriously.  Loosen up and everyone around you will loosen up.  Have fun and always show enthusiasm.  When all else fails put on a costume and sing a silly song.

Sam Walton

One More Reason to Love My Kindle

Did you hear about Amazon's new Kindle Owners' Lending Library?  It sure makes me excited!  With an Amazon Prime membership (which I already have), Kindle owners can borrow one book a month for free!  Woop woop! 

Newer releases are even included.  I think this will help fill in the gap that my library's e-reader borrowing program leaves with the newest books.  I glanced through the available titles and many of them are books I've read recently or books that I want to read.  Here's a link to Amazon's press release for more information.  Happy reading! 

Thoughts: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Title: "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" 
Author: Washington Irving 
Year: 1819 
Audiobook Length: 1.5 hours 
Main Characters: Ichabod Crane, Katrina Van Tassel, Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt, The Headless Horseman 
First Line: "In the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent the eastern shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansion of the river denominated by the ancient Dutch navigators the Tappan Zee, and where they always prudently shortened sail and implored the protection of St. Nicholas when they crossed, there lies a small market town or rural port, which by some is called Greensburgh, but which is more generally and properly known by the name of Tarry Town."


I think the basic plot of Irving's short story is fairly well known.  I even vaguely remember seeing the Tim Burton movie adaptation starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci.  That being said, I'm feeling kind of indifferent about the story itself.  For me, this is one of those cases where the hype/cultural memory of the story is more exciting than the actual story.  I honestly felt like the end was a bit anticlimactic. 

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is written well.  Irving provides some beautiful descriptions throughout the tale.  I am glad that I listened to it, however, because looking up the first line to add to the beginning of this post made me see the length of Irving's sentences.  I guess I didn't realize it when I was listening, but writing out just the first sentence made me a little twitchy.  There is a lot of content in that thing! 

I listened to "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" as part of the Read-A-Thon.  I turned out to be the perfect length for the trip I had to take during the event.  I grabbed it at the library because I thought it would be appropriate to read near Halloween.  I would recommend "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" to those seeking a dose of spooky American short story.

Happy Halloween!

Saturday Sentiment

From your parents you learn love and laughter and how to put one foot before the other.  But when books are opened you discover that you have wings.

Helen Hayes

Snow!?!

I am supposed to get 4-8 inches of snow over the next 24 hours... What!?!  It has been 30 years since it last snowed in October in Virginia, and that was apparently around an inch according to my local weather station. 

I love curling up with a book and a blanket while watching the snow fall, but I'm just not sure I'm mentally reading for it yet!  It's not even Halloween! 

Although, I do love snow.  So when it starts falling, I'll probably squeal like a small child.  And be tempted to break my no Christmas music until at least after Halloween rule.  It's a tough life.  :)

Snowpocalypse February 2010 - Ahh... memories

Thoughts: The Road

Title: The Road
Author: Cormac McCarthy
Year: 2006
Audiobook Length: 6 hours 45 minutes
First Lines: "When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he'd reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him.  Nights dark beyond darkness and the days more gray each one than what had gone before."




Let's be real.  The Road is not a happy book.  In fact, it is disturbing and terrifying.  Certainly, it does not portray a world in which I ever want to live or contribute to creating in the future.  The shear desolation depicted by McCarthy is remarkable.  I could all too clearly see the images that he crafted and feel the emotions of the nameless father and son as they trudged along the road. 

In McCarthy's post-apocalyptic world, the landscape is coated in gray ash that seemingly permeates every available space.  As the father and son slowly make their way down the road towards the sea, they must remain vigilant against "bad guys" with cannibalistic tendencies, while battling starvation, sleep deprivation, and endless hopelessness.

The brightest spot of the entire novel is the father's love and devotion to his son.  The boy does call his father "Papa," but we are never told any other names for either of them.  I think McCarthy's decision to leave the father and son nameless is a deliberate attempt to prevent the reader from brushing off the possibility that this pair could be one's self or loved ones.  This boy and his father represent all of us. 

I actually picked up this audiobook on a whim at the library, even though the book had been on my TBR since its release.  I wanted something for my commute the next day and grabbed it five minutes before the library closed.  This turned out to be a happy accident, as I found that the gruff, grim tone of the narrator's voice enhanced the effect of McCarthy's words.

Finishing The Road did not leave me with any positive feelings about the future or potential solutions to prevent such a world from existing.  It seems like most dystopian works have a sense of battling and overcoming the "bad" in some way.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.  I did not feel that here.  The Road is about the time in between the fall of one society and the rise of another.  It is hopeless, frightening, and heart-breaking, but also worth reading.