I've read lots of good books in the past week. I haven't been able to read as much as I wanted to, even though it is summer, however. I have a good excuse - it's my brother's birthday so we had to clean the house for his party. :p
I have read This Lullaby by the great and wonderful Sarah Dessen, though, and absolutely LOVED it. :) I had only heard great things about it and it definitely didn't disappoint me. The only thing it made me want was a boyfriend as sweet as Dexter that would sing me songs and play the guitar! :)
After reading This Lullaby, I read Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway. I had heard mixed reviews of this book and didn't know what I was going to think of it, but I loved it to death. I actually want to go and re-read it right now. Again. After I just finished it yesterday. After reading Audrey, Wait! it made me really want a guy like James who didn't care if my ex-boyfriend wrote a song about me that just-so-happened to make me famous. And that he didn't mind that the paparazzi would raid us on our dates and make us get stuck in a music store manager's office...
Which is going to lead me to a little rant here: Why are guys in books so much better than the ones in real life? I mean, come on. Would someone like Dexter, a disorganized musician in a band, in real life be attracted to a Remy, organized and a control freak? Uhm. Probably not. So why do guys in books have to be so much better?! I want a guy from a book. Now. If someone finds one, please send him to me! :p lol.
But, anywho, I'm trying to get through A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray right now. I've heard lots of great things about it, but I haven't been able to get into to too good. I'm around page one hundred and fifty -- does it get better from here? I'm going to try and finish it - I hate when I don't finish a book - but I just can't get into it. It's odd.
I'm also reading Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr (who also wrote Cat's Cradle) for my history class. I'm in the AP class and we meet three times over the summer. We're reading two novels - Slaughterhouse Five and 1984 by George Orwell. Have any of you read these? If so, what did you think of them?
What is on everybodys summer reading lists? Do you have required reading for school? Most of you are probably anxiously awaiting Breaking Dawn, the fourth book in the Twilight series. I know I am. Only fifty-one more days. :))
And I do realize there are no pictures on here like Chelsie and Megan have, and I do apologize. There will be pictures next week. I just have to get to sleep -- I'm failing asleep writing this. :/
hope.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Teen Tuesday - The First Edition [Megan]
It has been a very fruitful young adult week for me. Since last Tuesday I have finished 6 books. All of them young adult!
One in particular caught my interest the most. It wasn't the best or the
most entertaining (in all reality it kept putting me to sleep), but I was so curious to learn how it came about. The Goose Girl
was Shannon Hale's first published book and also the first one I have ever read.
Did you know that "The Goose Girl" was a fairy tale written by the Grimm brothers?
You can click here to read it, but I wouldn't recommend doing so unless you have already read the book. Growing up, "The Goose Girl" was one of Hale's favorite fairy tales. Her mother used to read to out her out of a large book of fairy tales. I find the image that makes in my mind completely enchanting.
Where did Shannon Hale's concept for doing adapted fairy tale come from? I have always been interested in adapted and altered fairy tales. The first one I read was Ella Enchanted
and I was curious to know if it has been in some way an inspiration to Hale in her writing. For me it seemed so obvious to me that there could be not other book that would serve as inspiration. But of course there was; Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
by Robin Mckinley was the true inspiration for The Goose Girl, and has now made it to the top of my books I want to search out and read pile. Which is interesting because it is an imaginary pile.
The Goose Girl was an interesting read for me. I expected to love it and I just didn't... One of the reasons Hale picked this fairy tale was that she felt the story left 
too many questions unanswered. But in her quest to answer these questions I often felt that she put too many words on the page. The character of the goose girl well was crafted. She was both likable and believable. But the story did drag at moments, especially at the end. The characters were traveling but the prose was not. It was just as long as the previous, more static parts of the book and dampened the action and movement toward the end of the book.
Even though I was not overly impressed with the book, in the end I did like it. And I am interested in reading the other two books in the series. I know there are a lot of Shannon Hale fans out there. I am curious to know why they like her so much? It isn't that I dislike her, but I didn't feel like there as anything spectacular here. There were parts of the book where the words were lovely, where the writing was powerful with emotion. But I simply wasn't overwhelmed but the power of her writing nor her ability to tell a story.
Before I move on I would like to take a moment to share with you all a picture of Shannon with her two children. They are sharing a book in much the same way as I imagine Shannon's mother doing with her and her siblings.
And, in conclusion, I am just going to list the rest of the books I have finished in the past week since brevity is not my strong suit (see above!)
Have you read any or all of these? I would love to know what you think! Leave me a comment or if you feel like it write a Teen Tuesday post of your own!
One in particular caught my interest the most. It wasn't the best or the
most entertaining (in all reality it kept putting me to sleep), but I was so curious to learn how it came about. The Goose Girl was Shannon Hale's first published book and also the first one I have ever read. Did you know that "The Goose Girl" was a fairy tale written by the Grimm brothers?
You can click here to read it, but I wouldn't recommend doing so unless you have already read the book. Growing up, "The Goose Girl" was one of Hale's favorite fairy tales. Her mother used to read to out her out of a large book of fairy tales. I find the image that makes in my mind completely enchanting.Where did Shannon Hale's concept for doing adapted fairy tale come from? I have always been interested in adapted and altered fairy tales. The first one I read was Ella Enchanted
and I was curious to know if it has been in some way an inspiration to Hale in her writing. For me it seemed so obvious to me that there could be not other book that would serve as inspiration. But of course there was; Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin Mckinley was the true inspiration for The Goose Girl, and has now made it to the top of my books I want to search out and read pile. Which is interesting because it is an imaginary pile.The Goose Girl
was an interesting read for me. I expected to love it and I just didn't... One of the reasons Hale picked this fairy tale was that she felt the story left 
too many questions unanswered. But in her quest to answer these questions I often felt that she put too many words on the page. The character of the goose girl well was crafted. She was both likable and believable. But the story did drag at moments, especially at the end. The characters were traveling but the prose was not. It was just as long as the previous, more static parts of the book and dampened the action and movement toward the end of the book. Even though I was not overly impressed with the book, in the end I did like it. And I am interested in reading the other two books in the series. I know there are a lot of Shannon Hale fans out there. I am curious to know why they like her so much? It isn't that I dislike her, but I didn't feel like there as anything spectacular here. There were parts of the book where the words were lovely, where the writing was powerful with emotion. But I simply wasn't overwhelmed but the power of her writing nor her ability to tell a story.
Before I move on I would like to take a moment to share with you all a picture of Shannon with her two children. They are sharing a book in much the same way as I imagine Shannon's mother doing with her and her siblings.
And, in conclusion, I am just going to list the rest of the books I have finished in the past week since brevity is not my strong suit (see above!)
Have you read any or all of these? I would love to know what you think! Leave me a comment or if you feel like it write a Teen Tuesday post of your own!
Teen Tuesday, First Edition [Chelsie]
Welcome to my first Teen Tuesday blog post! (can you tell I’m excited? eek!)
This week has been quite an interesting week, reading-wise. I could honestly say that in the past week I’ve read more books than I’d read the previous two or three weeks combined. I guess that’s just how it is with me... for awhile I’ll go through books like lightning and then I’ll slow down and stick with the same book for a week.
But enough about my unpredictable reading habits. That’s not what this blog is about. This blog is about young adult books... so here we go.
Last week I officially became re-obsessed with the House of Night series by P.C. and Kristen Cast. I read the first book in the series, Marked, last month and I have no idea why I didn’t read the second and third right away... I absolutely LOVED the first one. It was fast-paced and funny and highly addictive... And the second and third books were JUST like the first. Just as fast-paced, just as funny, and just as addictive... maybe even more. But now I realize that I should have waited until late summer to read these... because now I have to wait until September for the fourth book!
And it’s just my luck that the third book ended off with an evil cliffhanger.
Anyways, I finished Chosen (the third book) on Saturday during a huge series of thunderstorms.
I think I'm falling in love with Vampire books. I first started falling love when I read Twilight (I mean, who didn't?) but now I'm really in love... Anyone have any suggestions for other good vampire books?
And then on Sunday I started (and finished) Jump the Cracks by Stacy DeKeyser. You can read my review here, but I will try to quickly summarize how I felt... Obviously it was a quick read, and while it wasn’t perfect, I felt there really was some sort of substance to it that is lacking with other novels. So basically, I thought it was great.Currently, I’m reading Fireworks by Niki Burnham, Erin Haft, Sarah Mlynowski, and Lauren Myracle. It’s a book with four short stories in it, all pertaining to summer. I’ve been saving this book for awhile, because I thought it’d be perfect to read when it finally started feeling like summer... and it has! Finally, after what seemed to be the longest winter ever, I can feel the summer!
So what type of books do you think make good summer books? Or what type of books do you think make good books, period? I'd like to know, so feel free to leave a comment and share!
-Chelsie-
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