Short Update

So I still haven’t managed to get my hands on a copy of Sweethearts but I plan to in the next week or so. DON’T WORRY I’M NOT GOING TO FORGET.

Lately though I’ve been (re)reading the wonderfullest book, The View from Saturday. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. I’m also sorry I haven’t been updating the blog so much lately. I’ve been working and sleeping a lot. No, really, I’ve been sleeping a lot. It’s rather annoying.

On the book front though:

* read The View from Saturday,

* gave up on reading Life of Pi,

* though about rereading The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

July Book Club

The book: Sweethearts, by Sara Zarr.

Timeframe: I’ll probably post about it in the last week of July, so basically the whole month.

My Characters

In honor of the fact that I LOVE LISTS and also FICTIONAL CHARACTERS, here are ten fictional characters (from books) that remind me of, uh, me.

Ten Characters Who Remind Me of Me:

1. Lena from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
2. Annisa from I Was A Non-Blonde Cheerleader.
3. Eliot from Scrambled Eggs at Midnight. (And yes, I’m fully aware that this is a dude, but that’s totally allowed. The way he thinks reminds me of the way I think.)
4. Mel from How to be Bad.
5. Macy from The Truth About Forever.
6. Cammie from the Gallagher Girls books.
7. Ruby from A Little Friendly Advice.
8. Jo from Little Women.
9. Bella from Twilight.
10.  Ruby from The Boyfriend List.

I’d love it if you made your own list and linked back, or at least let me know. I’m interested to see who everyone else sees themselves as!

Quotes Night

I probably could have found fifteen thousand quotes in the last book I read, Nick Hornby’s A Long Way Down, had I been looking. But I was too wrapped up in the story to bother. Lots of F-bombs, but I suppose that’s what you get when you read a book with such a dark premise. (Four people, intent on committing suicide, meet on the tower roof and form an odd sort of support group.)

Anyway.

Tonight feels like a bit of a quotes night, so here goes.

She’d felt so hurt lately, she didn’t know how she hadn’t run out of that particular feeling. (The Secrets of Peaches)

It was maddening to Leeda that pouring out her heart brought that kind of look in return. (The Secrets of Peaches)

Don’t assume that it’s too late to get involved. (Tuesdays With Morrie)

And I’m not made of stone, I’m made of flesh and blood and stupid, stupid emotions. (Let’s Get Lost)

I love you more than sunshine. (Paper Hearts)

Pete says you should listen our for times when you need to explain your feelings to other people, and ask yourself why you are doing it. He calls it “protesting too much,” like you only say it because you really really want it to be true, even if it isn’t. (ARC of serafina67)

Love is many things, none of them logical. (The Princess Bride)

Talking About The Girls

So let’s talk about this book.

The Girls, by Amy Goldman Koss

I just finished reading it again and, yes, it was just as good as I remember. My absolute favorite “mean girls” book (which maybe isn’t saying much since I don’t read too many of these sorts of books, but still). It’s short, but incredible, in my opinion at least.

The book begins with Maya, excited about being allowed to bring a friend to Six Flags for the day (I’m not sure how old these girls are, but they seem to be in jr. high) and calling up the other members of her group only to find out they’re all busy, all going to a sleepover without her.

Dun, dun, dun!

The book moves back and forth between the viewpoints of the characters, from Maya (the girl who’s been pushed out) to Candace (the sun that all the other girls revolve around) to Darcy (Candace’s “best friend,” which really just seems to mean she worships her the most and has known her the longest) to Renee (who has no idea why Candace and Darcy suddenly hate Maya so much, but knows it doesn’t sit well with her) to Brianna (whose personality is not as defined as the other girls - at least not until well into the book).

Honestly I don’t know why this book captured my interest like it did, like it always has. I’ve never been involved in a group like this, never seriously had to deal with mean girls and definitely have never been one myself. And yet there is something in this book that I keep going back to and I’m not sure what it is.

Possibly it’s the way that so much is going on in each of these girls’ heads, yet they don’t outwardly show it. Even Candace, who is unmistakably cast as the head Mean Girl, seems incredibly real when you get to know her and her motivations behind being the way she is are subtly shown. It is interesting how Koss weaves the personalities and lives of the girls together, not through flowery prose, but just by telling it and relating the characters to each other. We get to see the family dynamics of many of the girls - for instance, we learn early on that Maya’s mother immigrated from Russia and that Renee’s parents are getting divorced.

Another thing that I think probably draws me to this book is the dynamics of friendship shown. I don’t think it’s any secret that I’ve been trying to figure out this whole “friendship” thing forever and that I’m incredibly interested in how it all works. The amazingly real thing about this book is that even though it’s clearly about Mean Girls, there are also little things that show how the girls, and their families, honestly feel about the friendships. We get glimpses of how it all started, how Candace became friends with the different girls, making a group out of them.

Whatever the reason, I am, and have been for many years, indescribably drawn to this book. It’s middle grade and weighs in at 121 pages, so it’s an easy and quick recommended read.

And tell me: have any of you read this book before? Or even heard of it?

Also: JOIN THE BOOK CLUB!! (Is anyone getting sick of this plug yet?)

Bookstore Finds

I went to the used bookstore today, which is something I don’t usually do because they always seem to have the same books, but, you guys, this time I FOUND THE GIRLS!!! That middle grade book I read way back in mid school and have been looking for forever.

This is the book!

 

And some more that I found…

Life of Pi, which people have been telling me to read forever and I never have because I’m not entirely sure I’ll like it. But now I bought it so I practically have to read it.

A Long Way Down, by Nick Hornby.

The View from Saturday, which I love love love love LOVE.

The Girls is topping my list as the best used bookstore find if only because I’ve been trying to find it for so long. What has been your best used bookstore find? (And if you live somewhere where there’s a plethora of used bookstores, ones that don’t have the same books every time you go in, I envy you very much.)

 

Also, JOIN THE BOOK CLUB.

 

(And sorry for such a lame post; I’m just so thrilled about having a camera that I want to take pictures of everything.)

 

Picture Books

On the last day of the Child Development class I took, our teacher read us Love You Forever. Which got me to thinking about beloved picture books. My own personal list?

• The Rainbow Fish, which my teacher read to us when we were in kindergarten and who didn’t love it? Nobody. Nobody didn’t love it. (Oooh, double negative!)
• Once There Were Giants, the book my mom bought for me when I was five years old. I’m not sure how many others have heard of this book, but it’s awesome; I love it, always have.
• Chrysanthemum, that classic story about being a happy mouse and proud of what makes you different. Haha. It’s so cute and so sweet and so true.
• Guess How Much I Love You, a book I had three copies of at one point and I remember accumulating all of them when I was in the hospital.
• Tiger’s Bedtime, which I’m pretty sure my mom got when the sissy was a baby for buying so many Huggies. Lol.
• Oh, The Places You’ll Go, that Mom got for me a year after graduation. Long story. But I love it.
• At Play, the first book I ever read which, unfortunately, got lost sometime between me being three years old and me being eighteen. Who woulda guessed?

And of course I’m sure there are more; every time I go to BN I see more picture books I want to buy, but these are a handful of the ones that have sentimental value to me, if only because they’re books I’ve had forever.

So what’s your sentimental childrens’/picture book?

And also, check out the new book club. Join! Vote for our first book! We start in July! (So you still have weeks to get your votes in!)

Book Clubs and Change

Okay my neglected readers.

I apologize. For the neglecting and what not.

But there are going to be some changes in the site.

1. I’m going to be doing less formal reviews and having different book related posts. The Weekly Geeks of course, plus just randomly discussing books/characters. It’s going to be a different kind of book blog from here on out.
2. I’m changing the theme, I think.

Along with change number one, I’m thinking it might be cool to do some sort of blogospheric YA book club thingy. This may exist already, and if so, forgive me. But I’m starting my own now and feel free to join. I’m going to be reading something new after I finish New Moon and I’d love it if some of you would read it with me. I’m thinking the format will be something like this:

• One book a month to read (and we can vote on the books).
• At the end of the month we discuss them - I’ll have a post here about the featured book where people can comment, and you all feel free to write your own posts regarding the featured book also.

I’m wondering if you guys would want to do it this month since we’re already almost halfway through June - if you do, just tell me. The book options for our first month (oh and please let me know if you’re joining this thing - it would be really embarrassing to have a book club with only one member. Also suggest names for our book club?) are:

• Take Me There, by Susan Colasanti. The same lady who wrote the amazing When It Happens.
• The Market, by J.M. Steele. This one just looks mucho good.
• Geek Magnet, by Kieran Scott. I love her earlier books and recommend them to you all.
• Sweethearts, by Sara Zarr. You all know her first book was wonderful.
• Extras, by Scott Westerfeld. I know, I know, most of you have probably read it already. Care to read it again? Or for the first time if you’re like me and haven’t read it yet?

So join the book club, suggest a name for it, tell me if you want to start this month or next, and vote on the book!

Photo Week

I’m a little behind, just now getting to LAST WEEK’S Weekly Geek. Photo Week! I’ve got some luvly pics of the new bookstore I found (and by “found” I mean that my friend’s mom told me about it and I dragged my mom out to check it out with me) and a couple of pics of Red in bookstores.

 Pretty notebooks. So pretty. I almost bought one, because I’m addicted to buying notebooks, but I didn’t.

 The teen section. See the book in the middle on top? The pink one? It’s Geek Magnet by the same author who wrote the awesome Non-Blonde Cheerleader books and I really wanna read it. I have so many books I wanna read.

 Red in Barnes & Noble!!

 Red in my new bookstore!! The guy who worked there turned it face out after I told him I was one of the authors.

* A note: I have finished Twilight and I’m almost done with New Moon, but I’m just not writing many reviews lately. I’m not sure why.

Because I’m Bored

Because this has obviously turned into a BOOK MEME blog, here I am with yet another one stolen from the internets.

Pretty fun.

1. One book that changed your life?

Red. Unequivocally, undoubtedly, Red.

2. One book that you’ve read more than once?

There are so many, but I’ll go with Flipped by Wendelyn Van Draanan.

3. One book you’d want on a desert island?

The bible. (Or if you want the less-serious answer, “I would bring the DaVinci Code. I would bring The DaVinci Code so I could burn The DaVinci Code.” The Office reference.)

4. Two books that made you laugh?

Again, there are a ton (there are a lot for pretty much all of these anwers so I am choosing them in a sort of haphazard way), but let’s go with… Common Nonsense by Andy Rooney.

5. One book that made you cry?

Kira-Kira. It won the Newberry one year but I’m not sure who wrote it.

6. One book that you wish had been written?

Shattered: 100 Stories of Heartbreak. Not that it would be funny or uplifting, but I like sad.

7. One book that you wish had never been written?

Can I even think of one? Everyone loves different books and I wouldn’t want to rob someone of their reading joys, but for me personally: Gossip Girl.

8. Two books you’re currently reading?

I try my darndest not to read two books at once, so I’ve stopped the book I was reading/studying (Writing the Breakout Novel) to read Twilight.

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read?

Twilight. Which I am now reading, but aside from that there’s the second Gallagher Girls book.

10. Now tag five (or so) people.

Well I wasn’t tagged for this so I’m not going to tag others, but if you feel like doing this meme, steal it and let me know so I can read your marvie answers!