Thursday, April 23, 2009

19. Are We There Yet? by David Levithan.


This book was a nice, quick read. It's a story about two brothers (that seem quite different) that are tricked by their parents into going on a trip to Italy together. Danny, the older brother, is obsessed with his job and is constantly talking about what goes on at work. Nothing seems to matter too much to him except work. Elijah, the younger brother, is in school and more laid back. He's always very nice to everyone, always says 'please' and 'thank you'. Once they get to Italy, the brothers pretty much assume what will happen, like how their conversations will go, etc. In the book, they visit and describe many different museums/sites, which is interesting to read about. At one point, Elijah meets a girl and is caught up with that. The girl plays a somewhat big part in the story, but I don't want to spoil anything. I enjoyed reading it because it wasn't like a lot of the other teen novels that I've read recently. It takes you through Italy and through a troubled sibling relationship. It definitely makes me want to read the rest of David Levithan's books. Apparently he and John Green wrote a book together--I am VERY anxious for that to come out. It will most likely melt my fucking face off.

I give it 3 out of 5 stars.


Quotes:

"Although it is such a singular word, there are many variations of alone. There is the alone of an empty beach at twilight. There is the alone of an empty hotel room. There is the alone of being caught in the throng of people. There is the alone of missing a particular person. And there is the alone of being with a particular person and realizing you are still alone."

"In the age of guidebooks, websites, and radio waves, discovery has nearly become a lost feeling. If anything, it is now a matter of expectations to surpass---rarely a matter of unexpected wonderment. It is unusual to find a situation that appears without word, or a place that was not known to be on the road."

"Discovery cannot be revisited."



I'm late in posting this because I finished this almost a week ago. I'm already almost done with #20. I'm going to go finish it now, but I won't update the blog again unless I get extremely bored. Which, come to think of it, is very likely.

PeaceLove&HairGrease,
Kristen

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

18. Looking for Alaska by John Green.


I adore this book. I've read it before and I feel as if I could read it a billion more times. Of course, I fucking love John Green. Being a huge vlogbrother fan, I love the Green brothers and think they're hilarious and amazing dudes..and John is an amazing writer. He has written two other books (Paper Towns & An Abundance of Katherines) and they're awesome too. But I think LFA is my favourite. I'm not really sure why, it just appeals to me the most. It's hilarious. Seriously, I was reading it one night and started busting out laughing and my roommate was like "wtf?!" and I was like "he fucking got beat by a one armed kid!! LOL!! LMFAO!!" to myself and he just kind of stared at me. It still makes me giggle thinking about it. But in order to understand, you must read it! You won't regret it.

To sum it up, it's about a boy named Miles who starts at a new school (Culver Creek Boarding School) to seek what he calls the "Great Perhaps" which is something I (along with many other people, I'm sure) seek. He arrives and makes friends with his roommate, the "Colonel", who introduces him to.....DUN DUN DUN.....Alaska. Alaska, the most gorgeous girl he's ever seen, with those brilliant green eyes on a face that's attached to a perfectly curved body. Let me somewhat define Alaska for you: Addicted to cigarettes and books, with a boyfriend she constantly talks about having sex with, while coming up with genius pranks to get back at the "Weekday Warriors" that would definitely upset the headmaster (aka "The Eagle") and most likely get them all expelled, while ALSO hiding bottles of Boone's Farm to uncover later. Okay, so you probably don't think too highly of Alaska by that description. But she's a character you can't hate. Miles gets sucked into Alaska's unleashed personality and so will you.

I'm not going to do quotes because there are WAY too many that I like. Just read it. Now.

Mucho Love-o,
Kristen

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

17. Peeps by Scott Westerfeld.



So, I just finished Peeps by Scott Westerfeld and it was pretty amazing. Okay, so if I explained to you that it was about a vampire-like parasite transferred from one human to another through sexual intercourse (like an STD) then you'd probably think the story was retarded..but really, it's not. It's actually quite interesting. In the book, Mr. Westerfeld talks about a different type of parasite every other chapter and the information is gross, scary, and intriguing all at the same time. The characters in the book aren't annoying (one of the main girls does say "dude" a lot, but I can get over that) and the story doesn't feel like it's dragging on and it doesn't take forever to get going. It's a pretty dope concept and I'm excited to buy the sequel. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys vampire novels that AREN'T like Twilight (not saying Twilight is bad, I'm definitely a Twilighter) but not all about blood and biting necks and coffins. It's definitely not THAT type of vampire, it's a...well, it's a motherfucking peep.

I give it a 3 1/2 - 4 out of 5 stars.

Quotes I enjoyed:

"Her face was lit up with happiness, so different than it had been the night before. An almost orgasmic look of contentment came over her as she breathed in the scent of bacon."

"Maybe the natural world wasn't so jaw-droppingly horrible---appalling, nasty, vile. Sometimes nature could be quite sweet, really, as delicate as a confused and horny butterfly."

"The subway platform trembled under us again, another train coming. Eventually, we'd have to return to the surface, to face the sunlight and the coming crumbling of civilization, to rid out whatever tumult the old carriers had planned now that the old strain was surging into daylight. But for the moment I was content to stand there, the thought of an apocalyptic future suddenly less panicking. I had something that I'd thought lost forever: another person warm in my arms. Whatever happened next seemed bearable."

"My voice trailed off, an answer dawning on me. Not so much words or images, but a feeling---a generations-forgotten dread, an enemy long buried, a warning never to lose the old knowledge, because the sun can't always protect us from what lives in the lower depths. I felt again the shuddering revelation from my first biology courses, that the natural world is less concerned with our survival than we ever admit. As individuals, even as a species---we are here on borrowed time, and death is as cold and dark and permanent as the deepest fissures in the stones we walk on."

Time to start on #18.

Adios!
Kristen

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

The first sixteen.

1. Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen
2. Sleep Rough Tonight by Ian Bone
3. Diary by Chuck Palahniuk
4. Midnight Sun (partial draft) by Stephenie Meyer
5. That Summer by Sarah Dessen
6. Dreamland by Sarah Dessen
7. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
8. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
9. This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen
10. Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
11. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
12. So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld
13. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
14. Bound South by Susan Rebecca White
15. Spanking Shakespeare by Jake Wizner
16. Tweak by Nic Sheff

I've decided that I'm not going to go back and review these books because it would be too time consuming. I might do some in the future (like Tweak & LOTR) because I'd like to talk about what I liked or didn't like, etc.

I know I haven't come too far this year (although last year I started in March and still read 50+ books) but I'm confident I'll catch up, lol. SELF-CONFIDENCE IS ALWAYS IMPORTANT!

I'm currently reading Peeps by Scott Westerfeld..


I'm over half-way through with it and it's very..interesting so far. I love Scott Westerfeld, he's a young adult fiction genius IMHO because his stories are so..different and crazy awesome. He creates so many things and it's awesome being sucked into a new world, even though I can tell that these worlds relate to ours in a lot of ways.

I shall update this as I go along.

Mua!
Kristen

Explanation.

I've started this for a couple of reasons. I participate in the 50 book challenge (I did it last year for the first time) and I will use this blog to discuss the books I have read/am currently reading and post quotes that I enjoy + reviews + other various information. I realized that I'm reading all of these books but I never really discuss them. I have a GoodReads account (where you can write reviews and rate the book) but I'd rather use a more personal blog where I can post pictures of the book I am reading and do my own kind of thing..aka whatever the fuck I want.

I'm not sure if I should do a re-cap of the books that I have already read this year or not. I sorta just came up with the idea and I'm still figuring out what I'm going to do.

Oh, lunch break, time to catch up on my reading. I'll probably be editing this throughout the day because it currently looks like shit.

-Kristen