Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

If you have read my previous reviews, or at least looked at my list of reviewed books, you know I like Lauren Oliver. Her Delirium series was what got me really back in to reading and was the first series I have binge read in a long time. I enjoy her writing style. I find her characters really well developed and easy to relate to, even when they are set in a future society I have no experience with. I also like that the heroine is not the gorgeous blonde every guy drools over, it is the average girl (so far brunette), the one that most of us were in our teens. And, I like that she doesn't feel the need to cram a bunch of salacious sex in to her books--as I reader I often find such things distracting and even annoying, I am no campaigner for purity or anything, I just hate seeing it used in hopes of making the book more likable, her books don't need it!

This book has been on my NOOK for awhile. I just kept getting caught up in other things. I am so glad I finally made time for it.

The quickest and best way I think I can describe this story is to call it a cross between 2 movies--Groundhog Day and Heathers. Tempted to say Mean Girls instead of Heathers, because nobody is offing their friends...but Mean Girls just wasn't as cool as Heathers!

Sam is a High School Senior. She is part of the popular crowd, has a popular boyfriend, and the life we all thought we wanted when we were that age. You don't have to read too far in to the book to reach the part where Sam dies, so it is a good thing that her death is just the beginning of the story. Dying is what kicks her in to a week-long reliving of her last day alive. The choices she made and their consequences. The people she affected whether she realized it at the time or not. Who and what she thought was important--and then what was actually important. Can she change her fate? Change the fates of those around her? Is that really what is meant to happen? Or is she just reliving the day until she finally can be at peace with dying?

I spent so much of my time while reading this book thinking about my teenage days. Remembering the things I thought were so important, and the moments I thought were earth-shattering. Over and over I wanted to talk to Sam, to tell her how wrong she was about certain things! To a certain extent, I was that popular girl, but I was also partially so many other characters in this book. When you are a teenager, you think all of those things have to be separate. You can't be popular and unique. You can't be weird and also well liked. And so on. Sam learns in this one week what it took me decades to figure out--that all of us have all of these components in there somewhere, that we don't have to pigeonhole ourselves, and so many other things. I will say that it didn't end the way I expected--I won't elaborate on that--but, despite thinking the whole time that I would be mad if it ended this way, it totally fit when it did.

Read it! YOU MUST!

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

One of the best things about working at a bookstore is that you have access to Advanced Reader Copies sent by publishers. This book appeared at my store just a few days after I had read about it online, and I snatched it up the minute I saw it...this was after a squeal of joy of course! I am a big fan of Oz, which makes me embarrassed to admit that I have yet to read the original books. Wicked by Gregory Maguire is one of my all-time favorite books, so another book that take the backdrop of Oz and the events we are familiar with, and gives them a new twist, really appealed to me.

One thing I wish I would have known when I began reading is that this is not a stand-alone book. It is The first book in a series which is also planned to include 2 other books and 3 novellas (published as ebooks). The first novella, No Place Like Oz, was released back in November and is a prequel. I have this on my NOOK and am a few pages in. For a novella, it is actually pretty long at 196 pages.

Back to Dorothy Must Die...

The book is set in the present, and the basic plot is that another girl from Kansas--Amy Gumm--is whisked away by a tornado and finds herself in Oz. She begins to find, however, that this is not the Oz she is familiar with from the movie. In the years since that time in Oz things have changed dramatically for the worse. Dorothy has returned, and the small taste of magic she's had has turned her into what can only be likened to a drug addict after they first try their chosen vice. She will do whatever it takes to have more and more of it, and the wake she is leaving behind is growing. Meanwhile, her friends from her first visit--the Tinman, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion--have become twisted versions of their former selves, and live to ensure the success of the girl they hold dear. In hopes of restoring Oz to the land it once was, a group of Wicked Witches and others have banded together to do what must be done. Will Amy join them? What will happen if she does?

I struggled a little when I first began reading this book. Yes, Amy's life in Kansas makes you want to root for her, but she also came across to me as a bit weak and caught up in feeling sorry for herself. I found this annoying. Now that I have finished the book, I know that she was presented in this light intentionally and that it sets the stage for her growth as a character and a person. So, keep that in mind. I also think I would have read this book with a slightly different frame of mind had I known it was just part of the story. I had some moments where I wondered how the story could ever be properly told with the number of pages left. All that being said, I really did like the book, just not as much as I expected to, but I think that will change once I am able to read the rest of the story and see the story to its conclusion. Amy becomes less annoying as the story progresses, and it is nice to see her begin to find herself. Her character spends some time focused on the young men she comes in contact with and I found it out of place--considering the dangerous situation she finds herself in--until I remembered what is was like to be a teenage girl, and how much attention I paid to the teenage boys around me despite just about anything that might have been going on in my life! I liked most of the supporting characters, and the plot really is a great one. I found myself unable to stop reading and am glad about that! The story is very well developed and the author has done a great job of setting the scene of an Oz that is falling apart.

The Fairy Tale Detectives (Sisters Grimm series #1) by Michael Buckley

Yes, I read children's books. I could justify this by saying that I work with children's books--which I do--but, I also just really enjoy some of them! Some of them are really well written with great story-lines, they are just usually shorter, and tamer...and that can be a good thing!

This was one of those books.

I had been eyeing this series for quite some time. The covers are really unique, and the titles all catch your attention. I watch the TV series Once Upon a Time, and reading the description of this book made me wonder if they got the general idea for the show from these books. Both feature a town where fairy tale characters live a seemingly normal existence. In this series, however, the 2 main characters are little girls--Sabrina and Daphne Grimm--who have been orphaned and are sent to live with the grandmother they had been told was dead. Their grandma lives in the town of Ferryport Landing in New York. Once there the girls begin to realize their grandma is a little unusual, as is the house, and the other people they meet. The story unfolds from there.

Michael Buckley does a really good job of combining adventure with whimsy to keep things driving forward yet light and fun. Even the "bad guys" in the story are given likable qualities and/or back-story that keeps them from falling entirely into the category of villains, and I liked that. The sisters are good strong characters, not relegated to being frilly and girly like some others feel required to depict little girls.

Overall, just a great fun story, set in a wonderful and well-developed world. I look forward to reading the remaining 8 books in the series!

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

Amazing, amazing, amazing book! Did I mention I thought this book was amazing?

This book was not what I had planned to read next, but I had to read it immediately once I discovered it. I had been doing some research in to likely winners for the soon to be announced ALA awards for 2014 and this one was mentioned numerous times in association with the Printz Award (it didn't win). Then, I realized it was written by the author of Silver Linings Playbook, the basis for a movie that had magically jumped its way in to my top 10 favorites of all time recently. Matthew Quick just understands depression, he portrays it  clearly, painfully and yet somehow beautifully. So, I grabbed this book and tore in to it.

The basic premise--a teenager has plans for his 18th birthday, and those plans include shooting his ex-best friend and then himself. Heavy, I know. And I spent most of the book unsure how I would react if the main character, Leonard Peacock, actually went through with it. And I had many a moment when I found myself wondering if it was okay that I liked this kid, this person who might soon be a murderer, because I did like him. I understood him, at least I understood his underlying angst and anger. The author manages to give this character hateful moments, and misguided moments, and other unlikable thoughts and ideas and intentions--and yet, he manages to make you like him. I won't say how it ends. Honestly, I reached a point where I wasn't sure if I wanted him to go through with his plans or not. I worried that it would seem too anticlimactic if he didn't do it; but, I also worried that I might be really angry if he did.

Oh, a minor advanced warning of sorts--not sure if this is standard for his books, as it is the first I have read, but much of the back-story in the book is presented in footnotes. At first I found this a bit odd, but found it eventually melded smoothly in to my reading experience. I know others who found it off-putting. Don't let it stop you from reading this book! Technically, I guess you could skip the footnotes, but I think the footnotes, at least for me, are what made me want to fight for Leonard...

Requiem by Lauren Oliver

I actually finished this book a couple of weeks ago, but things have been a bit hectic!

As with the previous 2 books in the trilogy, I plowed through this book. This trilogy has truly renewed my faith in my ability to get in to what I am reading despite my barriers! YAY! Okay, on to the book...

As with Pandemonium, this book switches between two different perspectives. Though, the switches in that book were between Lena's present day and her experiences after first becoming a Invalid. In this book the story alternates between Lena's present day and Hana's present day. 

It was really nice to see things through the eyes of someone who has been cured, in fact--someone who has been cured and is about to marry someone who has become very powerful within the hierarchy of "Valid society." As Hana's portion of the story progressed I found myself very torn in my feelings for her character--she obviously has not become truly cold and heartless the way many of the "Cureds" do, BUT, despite her lingering feelings of caring for those around her she finds herself, for the most part, unable to gather enough compassion to act on these feelings. In the end, I felt very sad for her.  At least a person who fully takes to the cure doesn't realize how bad the society they live in has become. Hana can see it but lacks the love for others she needs to truly become a champion for change.

Lena's story deals largely with her struggle to master her emotions, to learn how to be the loving person she is fighting to have the right to be, and yet to have some sort of control over those feelings. To let herself embrace those feelings, but to not let them overpower her. I can't imagine going through my late teen years, and coming to terms with all of the things that entails, all while fighting for my life and my right to be who I am to the extent of it being life-or-death. Can you?? I love that her mother comes back in to play, though I struggled with their interactions at first. And I loved that we see Grace again!

My only complaint is that this is a trilogy!!!!  It is over!!  I would LOVE to see the next few years for these characters and their world.  I am definitely left hungry for more!

Inferno by Dan Brown

Well, this will be proof that I am honest in my thoughts about a book and don't love everything!

I will begin by saying that I thought the way the book ended was great, I love the premise and think that the issues the story is based on are truly worth being spoken about (not going to discuss them here though, that would be a huge spoiler!). I think it isn't saying too much to say that overpopulation plays a key role, and I like the stark reality that is used to present the situation.

That being said, the way Dan Brown got to the last fifth or so of the book infuriated me! I think the main issue for me is that despite how much I love the Robert Langdon character, how fascinated I am with his character's profession and background, and also how much I love Tom Hanks as an actor, I think Dan Brown needs to move beyond this character. That, or maybe take a break from him until he has a story to tell that better suits what the Langdon character provides to a story. I think this character is perfectly suited to the first two novels he was the focal point of, The Da Vinci Code, and Angels and Demons. But, with this book and The Lost Symbol, I felt that the inclusion of Robert Langdon was forced and a bit awkward. I think that what Langdon has to provide as a character is much more interesting when it is used to present and investigate situations presented as "ancient mystery" type situations, with clues left behind long ago. With this book, antiquities were used by the protagonist to create clues. I would love to see the author deal with other secret societies like he has before; The Bilderberg Group or Skull & Bones maybe, there are plenty sufficiently clandestine and mysterious ones left out there for him to choose from! I would also love to see him do some stand alone novels again. Deception Point and Digital Fortress were both fabulous. He is a great storyteller and I love the amount of research it would seem he puts in to his books, I guess things have just started to become more formulaic.

That being said, and this may sound surprising with what I have said, I think it is still a good read. I just think it should come with a disclaimer--"This book may make you crazy at first!"--or something of the sort. I think it is meant to be a shocking twist, and it is to a certain extent, but that becomes overpowered by the fact that it is also a relief to be done with the annoying nature of the rest of the book.

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

I plowed through this book, seriously flew through it! My reaction when I finished reading what I thought was just a chapter and flipped to the next page looking for more--its over, no more! Such is the torture of reading all but the last book of a trilogy or series! A necessary evil complicated by the fact that I was reading this on my NOOK and not paying attention to page numbers of the fact that there was a reader's guide and such at the end.

Anyway, on to the book!

Obviously I enjoyed the book, or I wouldn't have read it so quickly and be hungry for more. I struggled to settle in to it at first. This book switches between flashbacks of the time right after the end of Delirium and about 6 months or so past that, which is the present. But that becomes more fluid pretty quickly.

Lena is seen processing the events she just experienced in the flashbacks, and acclimating to her new reality and the people and conditions that populate that reality. In the present she has become a part of the resistance and is poised on the edge of her next big challenge, and the change that will come with it. I enjoyed watching her continue to grapple with what she has left behind her, her "now," and her sense that her future is now fully out of her control.

As i'd hoped, the author further builds and fleshes out the world this story is set in during this book. We see other cities, others Wilds, other people--both similar to, and wildly different from, the people and factions we have seen so far. It becomes clearer how misguided the government is, bent on a sort of purification of the populace as a whole. Elimination of things, and people, who do not fit their sense of order and purity. Awful concepts start to spring in to my mind like eugenics, gentrification and even genocide, though with a hands of approach, letting those less desirable struggle to find sustenance and safety--a sort of survival of the fittest set up with the fittest being chosen, not destined.

I can't wait to get my hands on Requiem! And I am adding Delirium Stories to my "To Be Read" pile, it has 3 stories, each delving further in to the stories of women in Lena's life--Annabel, Hana and Raven.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

I am starting TOTALLY off topic. I am reading, really reading, more than 10 or 20 pages a day! New drugs? Maybe? Vacation? Maybe, but I don't care!

Okay, on to Delirium! Maybe I also read this quickly because I liked the book. I am anxious to start Pandemonium, the next book in the trilogy. I don't want to share too much, I would never want to spoil a book for anyone!

When I first started this book, I was worried I wouldn't like it. A cure for love seemed a bit silly and I was worried it would be too romance-y, which is not my thing. But it grew on me by 20 pages in or so.

Lauren Oliver's writing is easy to read. Descriptive, but not so much so that it feels overdone. I also feel as if maybe she intentionally makes it feel a little too soft at the beginning, too sentimental and gushy, so that the reality of it will feel more harsh.

Saying that this book is about a society that has found a cure for love won't give away anything the description of the book doesn't give away itself. When I first thought about it, curing someone of love seemed like something contained, something with not many facets. And, for someone who is still single at the age of 43 it felt almost like a good idea! I had forgotten about all of the aspects of love. Love of a parent for their child, love of one sibling for another, love of fellow humans. And there is what comes with love like empathy, sympathy, concern, that also come in to play. I also really grasped on to the brief mention of homosexuality, and how it was frowned upon. I had the thought that maybe it was that type of love, that society fights so hard against as we see in our true reality, that lead someone down the path of curing love. I love, yes love, that she also touches on the pain that often accompanies love and presents it as something necessary to truly experience love. I am a firm believer that life has to have hard times to really appreciate the good stuff, and like seeing anyone else embrace that concept.

Lena is a great character. She reminds me of myself, so maybe that is why I like her so much. I felt like some of the other characters were left a little hollow, but hope they will be filled in a bit more as the trilogy progresses, through their own stories and actions or those of others. Another character I really grasped on to is Grace, and I really hope we run across her again down the road.

I'll admit that there was one aspect that bothered me. And this likely comes from being someone who thinks too much and analyzes things until they are torn to shreds, but I have given up on fighting that in myself. I found myself surprised at times at methods of control and surveillance not being used by the government. A lack of love as a framework for society settling in to a rigid, authoritarian and oppressive existence really fascinated me. But I guess I was expecting cameras, all that "Big Brother" type of stuff. At some point I found myself wondering if the lack of all of the "bells and whistles" of such a society was intentional. Maybe a statement about the downfall of such a society being its own arrogance and blind belief that it is actually in control. Or maybe there is a connection to be made between love and ingenuity and that the desire that comes with love is what drives us to create, and without it we don't go any further, we stagnate. Or maybe I am thinking too much!

But, at the end of it all, I loved this story and look forward to seeing how it continues...

The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure

I read somewhere that the historical events you fixate on in life are likely to be those events you were in some way connected to in a past life. Do I think I am the reincarnation of Laura Ingalls Wilder? Of course not! Though it would be kind of cool if I was. I do, however, think that if this is the way things work, then I was someone like her--or her pa ;)--in a past life. This is the only possible justification for an obsession with all things Laura Ingalls Wilder that I always knew ran pretty deep.  One that I know is shared by none of my friends or family. I always felt there might be nobody I could realistically categorize as more obsessed than me...maybe just obsessed differently. Then, I read The Wilder Life!

Wendy McClure writes in a way I find really easy to read. Not easy meaning it is low level, but easy meaning I find it comfortable. Maybe I find it to be a lot like I might write if I ever got around to writing a book. I have visited 1 Little House site. The author has visited them all, or at least all of the ones that are on my list of "important ones," all of the ones I would like to visit. She approached them from an entirely different perspective though. She was on a path to try to find the location, or setting, or experience--something, ANYTHING--that would make her feel as if she had truly connected with "Laura World." Maybe even a doorway that would place her in this Laura World. This path lead her on a journey that involved not just visiting the sites where Laura and her family had lived, but also involved participating in many activities Laura likely found herself participating in. Some of these are activities many Laura fans have experienced, like making butter or maple candy. Others go far beyond that, most notably (in my opinion at least) being a visit to a homesteading weekend--one of my favorite parts of the story really!  I wish I could say I found myself shaking my head and wondering what could drive her to such extremes, and I did at times, but mostly I found myself searching online for ways to try these things out myself! Her recounting of all of the adventures is both humorous and sentimental.  And I felt it shared enough about the experience to really be sharing it, but not so much that it would ruin the adventure for her reader, should they be inclined to follow it to some degree.

For the author, this journey was also a very personal one, Laura Ingalls Wilder and her life serving as a conduit to some realizations and answers about herself...and a way to put some parts of her life in place. When I first realized the book was not just about an obsession with Laura, but also about the author's life and the things that might be feeding that obsession, I was disappointed. But I am not one to leave a book unfinished, even a bad one! And this book was far from that.  So onward I forged, and I am glad I did. If you are a fan of the books, or a fan of any book series for that matter, I think you will love this book. But, I also think you will enjoy this book if you are a human who has ever immersed themselves in something they loved as part of the process of dealing with something they couldn't figure out how to navigate...which I am pretty sure is just about EVERYONE!

My Relationship with Reading

I used to be a voracious reader.  It was not unusual for me to finish a good page-turner in a 24-hour period. But over the years, a combination of stress, clinical depression (and all of its "joys" including struggling with concentration), multiple moves, the rise of the internet and all of its enticing activities, and other things, has caused me to feel constantly behind on life in general.  And in this whole struggle I have let reading mostly fall off my daily activities.  In fact, I have to acknowledge that in the past year I have only finished 2 books and started a third!  This saddens me, but I have just let it go.

Well, this week I took a couple of vacation days, which gave me 4 days off in a row!  Something I have not experienced in quite some time, and something I hadn't realized I desperately needed.  And, despite the 8 months of unemployment, and then the weeks where I only worked a day or two when I first started my current job, this is the first time I have spent 4 days straight alone, and without the weight of the world on my shoulders.  Yes, I still have stresses and things to handle, but a stable housing situation and job, among other things, allowed me to truly relax.  And while relaxing I discovered that not relaxing was what ate my drive to read!  Well, that, and I think that re-reading books I have already read made things less exciting.  The re-reading can't be helped, because the next book in the Outlander series comes out this year and I read the lost one in a bit of a fog and need to just start over.  One book almost down in that endeavor though!

Anyway...the point of this long story, that I seem to have been unable to make short, is that I have set myself a goal to read 50 books this year.  20 years ago that would have been nothing, but after a year of finishing only 2 I think it is a pretty good challenge!  I am going to start a list here with my intended reads, and cross them off as they are completed.  As of now, they are, in no particular order:

1. Outlander - Diana Gabaldon -- FINISHED!!  1 down, 49 to go!
2. The Wilder Life - Wendy McClure -- FINISHED!!  2 down, 48 to go!  Working on a blog post about this one, LOVED it!
3. The Girl in the Leaves - Robert Scott -- We will just have to call this one done at about 2/3 of the way through.  Interesting subject matter, but stretched out way longer than it needed to be, and stretched out with drivel!!
4. Delirium - Lauren Oliver - Finished, yay!  I talk about it here: Delirium
5. Pandemonium - Lauren Oliver -- started 8/25/13, finished 8/31. Read about it here: Pandemonium
6. Inferno - Dan Brown -- started 5/14/13, finished 9/26/13. Read about it here: Inferno
7. Dragonfly in Amber - Diana Gabaldon
8. Requiem - Lauren Oliver
9. Delirium Stories - Lauren Oliver
10. Voyager - Diana Gabaldon
11. Drums of Autumn - Diana Gabaldon
12. The Fiery Cross - Diana Gabaldon
13. A Breath of Snow and Ashes - Diana Gabaldon
14. An Echo in the Bone - Diana Gabaldon
15. Written in My Own Heart's Blood - Diana Gabaldon (due out some time this Fall, EDIT: Release date has been pushed back to March 25, 2014, BOO!)
16. Before I Fall - Lauren Oliver
17. If I Stay - Gayle Forman
18. Come Back - Claire & Mia Fontaine (I like some non-fiction mixed in)
19. Incarnate - Jodi Meadows
20. The Cats of Tanglewood Forest - Charles De Lint
21. Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones
22. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making - Catherynne Valente
23. Cinder - Marissa Meyer
24. Across the Universe - Beth Revis
25. Fortunately, the Milk - Neil Gaiman

FINISHED
CURRENTLY READING
IN MY "QUEUE"

Wish me luck!  The challenge is on!

UPDATE: 6 down as of 9/26/13!