Update

May 18th? Really?! That's the last time I updated this beast?! I suck, I know. Since Little Brother I have read:

1. The Compound by S. A. Bodeen (8/10)
2. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson (7/10)
3. Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan (7/10)
4. Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi (9/10)
5. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (7/10)
6. Wide Awake by David Levithan (6/10)
7. The Mortal Instruments Series: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (7/10)
8. The Mortal Instruments Series: City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (7/10)
9. The Mortal Instruments Series: City of Glass by Cassandra Clare (7/10)
10. Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien (8/10)
11. The Unidentified by Rae Mariz (4/10)
12. Matched by Ally Condie (7/10)
13. Anthem by Ayn Rand (6/10)
14. Divergent by Veronica Roth (8/10)

So...yeah. I'll review them. It may take a while to work through them, but I'll do my best. Promises, promises.

Book 33: Little Brother

Completed May 18th

I really enjoyed this book, which was one of the best feelings ever after despising the last novel I finished. It's set in the present day, but with an alternate reality...technology is a little more advanced and available in this setting. And surveillance of every day citizens is more common as well. At least I think so. I guess there could be some camera watching me scratch my ass right now, but I like to hope that's not true.

The phrase "little brother" is a nod to "big brother." Where "big brother" refers to an authority figure or group monitoring the public, "little brother" refers to the public monitoring the authority. Kind of like "Who watches the Watchmen?" It's an interesting concept. Basically, the main character, Marcus, and his friends are in the wrong place at the wrong time. They are detained by Homeland Security as suspected terrorists. The treatment he and his friends receive, the threats made, and the terror to which they are subjected light a fire in Marcus and he decides to fight back once he is released.

So yeah, I loved it. When I read the last page, I was ready to sign up for a revolution. It made me curious how our non-fictional government would react if the scenarios in this novel were to occur and I had a lot of questions. What is freedom? What is the price of that freedom? Under what circumstances can it be taken away? How far would you go to get it back?

There is a great deal of tech and tech jargon, but Doctorow does an excellent job of explaining it as the story progresses. And not in that let's-have-a-wordy-and-boring-timeout-to-explain-difficult-concepts way. He incorporates it into the story.

Rating: 9/10

Book 32 - Genesis

Note: There are major spoilers here. I'll warn you when they're coming

Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for this book, but I enjoyed it about as much as I enjoyed kidney surgery. It's like a history textbook containing only court transcripts. Sure, there are some great philosophical elements regarding life, thought, ideas, creation, etc contained here, but I didn't care about the story at all. There was no story. The whole novel takes place in 4 hours time and deals primarily with the past. If I wanted to read something like this, I'd have grabbed a West Memphis 3 court transcript or a journal article...both infinitely more entertaining than this story.

Some people might think I'm missing the point, but I do get it. I just don't like it. I don't mind debating philosophy on occasion, but that's all this was: a great big philosophical barf. I could spend a few minutes or hours dissecting this novel in my mind and determining what my own beliefs are regarding the themes, but you know what? I'm just going to move right along to the next book instead. Which is my own decision, Mr. Beckett...because I'm human and have a brain and thoughts and ideas. Gah! I really don't like this book.

The reader is kept outside the story and little connection (no connection really) is felt to the characters. And maybe that's why I didn't like it. It's a cerebral book, not an emotional one...which is typically how I prefer to operate, but not when it comes to fiction. I kept waiting for something -- anything -- to happen. Something to move to story beyond the walls of the Academy, but no. I could have punched the author when I read the twist. I'm not one for giving the ending away usually, but do you want to know? Do you?

~SPOILER ALERT~

She's a monkey. Yeah. Anax (the main character) is an orangutan robot. The end. Thanks for reading.

Rating: 2/10

Book 25 - Across The Universe

Completed April 12th

I've been loving me some dystopian futures lately. Here is yet another novel set in a future filled with cover-ups and half-truths.

There is a spaceship leaving Earth for another planet (Centauri-Earth) 300 years away. Scientists, military personnel, and other specialists are cryogenically frozen and are set to be awoken once the ship (Godspeed) arrives on the new planet. As the journey progresses, a crew of farmers, biologists, etc run things aboard Godspeed and attempt to prepare for conditions they might encounter on Centauri-Earth.

Amy is one of the frozen people. She is woken by someone unknown 50 years before the set arrival date on Centauri-Earth. She is different and is viewed by the leader (Eldest) as a threat to his perfect society. This book takes us through Amy's adjustment to life aboard a shuttle where the language has altered and genetics have merged to the point where there is one race, leaving Amy to be considered a freak with her red hair, green eyes, and pale skin. The only people who seem to accept her are Elder (who is in line to be the next Eldest) and Harley (a patient in the mental Ward). There is also the mystery of her awakening. Who did it? And who is attempting to wake the other frozen ones? What is the connection between them all?

I've never read anything quite like this. Mystery, sci-fi, and romance genres are combined to form this tale. The writing is excellent. Revis flawlessly creates an entirely new society within the walls of a ship. The book unfolds through alternating chapters from Amy and Elder's points of view. The differences between people on present-day Earth and people aboard the shuttle are described beautifully...and the differences themselves are keys to even more mystery.

Also, I don't typically care much about cover art, but holy crap! The picture does it no justice at all.

Rating 8/10

Book 22-24: The Hunger Games trilogy

Completed April 11th

I'm going to attempt a major-spoiler-free summary/review of this beast, which means I can only really discuss the 1st book. Let me say up front that I freaking loved this series. It's brilliantly written and tugged at every emotion I have inside me.

These books are set in a dystopian future, where The United States has collapsed and a new country called Panem takes its place. Within Panem are 12 Districts and 1 Capitol spread across the land. People in the Capitol are spoiled by luxury and never want for anything. They are frivolous with their fashion, food, and bodies. Life in most of the Districts is very different. Each District specializes in a certain industry like mining, textiles, technology, or agriculture. Government control is total. People are starving. The Districts are surrounded with electrical fencing and there is no communication between them. Anyone who defies the government is killed and breaking even minor laws can result in whipping or other torture.

Every year something called the Hunger Games takes place to remind the Districts of a past revolt against the government. A male and female between ages 12-18 are selected from each District to participate. The participants, called tributes, are trained for a week before being sent to a massive wilderness to kill each other. Only one tribute can survive. The winner's District is given more food for one year and the winner him or herself is made wealthy for the duration of his or her life. The Games are televised and everyone is required to watch.

Enter Katniss. The Hunger Games is told from Katniss' point of view as she is thrown into a world of horror and nightmares.

Like I already mentioned, I loved this trilogy. Katniss' struggles were realistic and painful. There were occasions when I wanted to bop her upside the head, but I guess maybe I'm a bit more trusting. And when you think about where she came from - having to fight for every mouthful of food, watching people she cares for dying, being used as a pawn for a bigger plan - it's no wonder. Catching Fire was my favorite of the three, though they're all wonderful. I've heard that Mockingjay didn't live up to the expectations of a lot of people, but I thought the ending was perfect for this series.

Ratings:
The Hunger Games 9/10

Catching Fire 10/10

Mockingjay 9/10

Book 21 - Water For Elephants

Completed April 4th

This is one of the best books I've read all year. Top 3 easy. As soon as I finished the last paragraph I wanted to start it over again. A couple people had recommended it, but my expectations weren't high, to be honest. It didn't work out so well for the last suggestions. But I just dove in blindly, without even reading the back cover.

This novel is set in Depression-era America...mostly. The story is told by Jacob who is 90 (or 93) as he remembers his early 20s, spent working in the circus. [Now, I'm not a fan of circuses. At all. They freak me out. BUT I was fine reading this book.] Jacob was the veterinarian for the Benzini Brothers Greatest Show on Earth in the summer of one of the greatest circus disasters of all time. Some parts are disturbing. There are graphic descriptions of violence as well as animal abuse and death, but it's necessary. The reader needs to understand the conditions of day-to-day life among humans and animals in order for the story to grab him and shake him up inside.

I'm still processing this one. I may re-read it later on this year and do a proper review, but I want to make sure I finish the 50 books first.

Favorite passages:

• Age is a terrible thief. Just when you're getting the hang of life, it knocks your legs out from under you and stoops your back. It makes you ache and muddies your head and silently spreads cancer throughout your spouse.
• Keeping up the appearance of having all your marbles is hard work but important. Anyway, I'm not really addled. I just have more facts to keep track of than other people.
• When you are five, you know your age down to the month. Even in your twenties, you know how old you are. I'm twenty-three you say, or maybe twenty-seven. But then in your thirties, something strange starts to happen. It is a mere hiccup at first, an instant of hesitation. How old are you? Oh, I'm--you start confidently, but then you stop. You were going to say thirty-three, but you are not. You're thirty-five. And then you're bothered, because you wonder if this is the beginning of the end. It is, of course, but it's decades before you admit it.
• The whole thing's illusion, Jacob, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's what people want from us. It's what they expect.
• With a secret like that, at some point the secret itself becomes irrelevant. The fact that you keep it does not.

Rating: 10/10

Books 16-20: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Completed March 29th

I didn't make notes as I read this series, so this reaction/review thing is straight from memory. Also, it says something that I didn't make quote-notes on these books. The writing was straight-forward and efficient, but no elegant prose or inspiring quotations were found here. The series is written for a younger audience (I found half of the books in the children's section of the library with the other half being YA...disorganization, anyone?), but I enjoyed it just fine.

At first, Percy's lack of common sense annoyed the piss out of me. I think even I had more common sense at 12, and he's a demigod (half god, half human)! The kid seemed incapable of drawing conclusions no matter how much evidence was slapping him in the face. Typical scenario: weird crap happens, weird crap, weird crap, and Percy concludes that weird crap isn't really happening. Okay, now repeat that at least 15 times. That was really my only major gripe I think, besides the reiteration of scenes to remind the reader what happened in the previous book. I got it, thanks.

This series is rooted in Greek mythology and there are a lot of characters. We meet all of the Olympian gods, most of the Titans, plus a hundred or so minor gods/demigods/monsters.

Side note: We had a game night at Ashley's recently and reading this series helped me answer a ton of questions about Greek mythology. It delves (at least briefly) into many myths, with enough visual description to lock them into my brain.

I don't like giving too much away if I can help it. Basically this series is about a 12 year old half-god coming of age, while also coming to terms with the fact that Greek myths are reality, his father is Poseidon, monsters are trying to kill him daily, there is a summer camp for demigods to learn how to stay alive, and there is a prophecy involving him that might just determine the fate of humanity. No big deal. So yeah, it's okay...not my favorite series, but not my least favorite either *coughHisDarkMaterialscough*

Ratings:

The Lightning Thief 7/10

The Sea of Monsters 6/10

The Titan's Curse 7/10

The Battle of th Labyrinth 8/10

The Last Olympian 6/10

Percy Jackson

I'm currently reading book 20, which I should finish tonight. 16-20 are the Percy Jackson novels, and I'll be reviewing them as a whole series...something I planned on doing with the His Dark Materials, but didn't like them enough to read them all at once.

Anyway, just a quick update since I haven't posted in a while.

Book 15 - Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes

Completed March 5th


How do I even begin to describe this book?

Well, first of all, it's not a novel. It's a play. And it's my favorite play. Ever. Angels is separated into 2 parts (Millennium Approaches and Perestroika) and if you were to sit through a performance of the entire thing, you'd be in the theater for 7 hours. It's kind of a beast.

The play is set during the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and deals particularly with its effect on the gay community. But you don’t have to be a gay man with AIDS living in 1985 to relate to it. This play reaches out on a very basic human level. It’s about dealing with loss, love, sickness, regret, politics, betrayal, sex, religion, death, confusion, hate…it’s about facing yourself and trying to cope with what you find there. What does it mean to know that you are dying? How do you deal with yourself when you betray the person you love? How does it feel to be hated and alone at the end of you life? Could you give up your own happiness in order to live the life people expect of you? Do you have to change your values in order to be accepting of humanity?

There are also some paranormal aspects to this play. It's not called Angels in America for nothing. Millennium Approaches sets up the coming of the angel, with part of Perestroika taking place in heaven. Also, it doesn't hurt to have some knowledge of the culture and politics in 1980s New York when reading, though it's not necessary. Roy Cohn (a closeted lawyer famous during the McCarthy era and for his influence in the Rosenberg trial) is a main character here. I had only vague knowledge of him before reading this play and I wish I had known a bit more, though from the very first words out of Cohn's mouth we are able to see what kind of person he is.

If I could set the curriculum for a literature class, Angels in America would be top priority. I think it’s an important play and that everyone should grab a copy and just read the hell out of it.

Favorite passages:

• I usually say, "Fuck the truth," but mostly, the truth fucks you. (Prior Walter)
• The failure to measure up hits people very hard. From such a strong desire to be good, they feel very far from goodness when they fail. (Joe Pitt)
• Don't be afraid; people are so afraid; don't be afraid to live in the raw wind, naked, alone. (Roy Cohn)
• I just wondered what a thing it would be...if overnight everything you owe anything to, justice, or love, had really gone away. Free. It would be...heartless terror. Yes. Terrible, and...Very great. To shed your skin, every old skin, one by one and then walk away, unencumbered, into the morning. (Joe Pitt -- all of the ellipses are put there by Kushner in the text)
• And I think that what AIDS shows us is the limits of tolerance, that it's not enough to be tolerated, because when the shit hits the fan you find out how much tolerance is worth. Nothing. And underneath all that tolerance is intense, passionate hatred. (Louis Ironson)
• Well I hate America, Louis. I hate this country. It's just big ideas, and stories, and people dying, and people like you. The white cracker who wrote the national anthem knew what he was doing. He set the word "free" to a note so high nobody can reach it. That was deliberate. Nothing on earth sounds less like freedom to me. You come with me to room 1013 at the hospital, I'll show you America. Terminal, crazy, and mean. (Belize)
• Nothing's lost forever. In this world there is a kind of painful progress. Longing for what we've left behind, and dreaming ahead. At least I think that's so. (Harper Pitt)
• (The monologue on the last page also, but it gives to much away, so I won't write it here)

Rating: 10/10

Book 13: Twice Taken

Completed February 22nd


When I went to visit my parents, I forgot to bring more books with me, so I had to make due with what I had left there (mostly things I last read before high school). I was excited when I found this book because it was a favorite of mine from middle school. I remember reading the back cover and buying it at a book fair in 7th grade. It was so scandalous because there are maybe 5 cuss words scattered throughout it and I was impressed by that for some reason.

Minor spoilers in this paragraph:
The story is about a girl who sees herself on a TV program about missing persons. Her dad kidnapped her when she was younger and her mom had been searching for her. She reunites with her mom and her mom's new family, blah blah blah. I'm not really giving anything away here as all of this happens within the first chapter or so. The main story is about her reaction to her new life and adjustment.

At least I got plenty of enjoyment out of it back then because I'll probably never read it again. The writing is crap. Total crap. I know it's written for a younger audience, but I wanted to find the editor and shake him/her. I almost wish I hadn't reread it so I'd be able to remember this as one of the great American novels. Sadly, though, it's not.

Rating: 3/10

Book 12: She's Come Undone

Completed February 21st



I had mixed feelings about this book. Throughout most of it, I wanted to smack Dolores over the head with something. She obviously has glaring personality issues (coughborderlinepersonalitydisordercough) as well as being generally annoying. At the same time, if a character can get under my skin like that, I know some good writing is going on.

So, here's a brief summary: Some bad stuff happens; more bad stuff happens; still more bad things; whales die; bad stuff; more bad things; possibility of happy; bad stuff; the end.

Okay, let me get my thoughts together for a minute. I've put off writing this reaction because I really don't know what to say. It's taken me a while to process. I liked it and I didn't. The writing style was awesome. I enjoyed Lamb's use of language and description and I'm interested in reading more of his work...just not about these characters. This novel was so depressing, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I was just waiting for Dolores to make one good decision and she kept letting me down. Of course there are terrible things beyond her control that happen, but it seems like every time she's given a way out or when there could possibly be a turning point, she sabotages it. It was maddening. And there's this whole section involving quackery passed off as therapy that made me want to pull my hair out.

By the end of this book (and I mean the very end...like the last few pages) I grew to like Dolores. She had a tough ride, but ended up becoming somewhat self-aware and caring about herself.

Favorite lines:

• I didn't want to die. I didn't want to live, either.
• "Life's a shit sandwich, my ass. Life's a polka and don't you forget it!" -Roberta

Rating: 5/10

Books 12, 13, and 14

I'll do a proper review soon. I finished She's Come Undone while visiting my parents and forgot to take any other books with me, so I had to make do with 2 books I had there (things I hadn't read since middle/high school)...1 of which was crap and 1 which was still brilliant.

Nail art inspired by William Blake's poem "The Tyger"

I'm using this blog primarily for book-related things, but I do more than read all the time. One hobby of mine is nail art and since these are inspired by literature, I thought I'd post them.

Book 11: The Great Gatsby

Completed February 17th



I have just not felt like reading lately. I powered through January with 9 books, but this is only the 2nd I've finished this month. Blah.

So, The Great Gatsby. I can't believe I made it through high school and college never having been assigned this novel. I had no idea what it was about when I started...if I'm honest, I vaguely thought baseball was involved for some reason...it's not, by the way.

I enjoyed it overall. The characters are intriguing and mysterious. It seems like there are secrets around every turn and the ending was all kinds of unexpected. Even when there didn't seem to be anything happening, I was still interested. The mundane day-to-day of these characters is more entertaining that my life will ever be. Something to remember: this novel takes place in the 1920s. Fitzgerald mentions several dates and it took me a while to wrap my mind around the fact that he was referring to the 1800s.

Some of my favorite passages:

• Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope.
• For a while these reveries provided an outlet for his imagination; they were a satisfactory hint of the unreality, a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy's wing.
• They were careless people...they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.
  

Rating: 8/10

Book 10: Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Completed February 4th



I love John Green. I love him as an author, a philanthropist, a decreaser of WorldSuck, a creator of awesome, and the father of Nerdfighteria. Looking for Alaska is in my top 3 favorite books, if not the favorite. So I had high expectations for this novel. Before I go further, let me say that I read this when it first came out and was severely disappointed. Something about it stuck with me though, and I wanted to give it another try.

Okay so this book is written in alternating chapters by John Green and David Levithan. Green writes from the view of Will Grayson, who is a social outcast and just tries to pass through life unnoticed. (He also has a best friend named Tiny Cooper who will become important later on in this review/summary/thought thing.) Levithan writes from the view of another character named Will Grayson, who is an angsty, closeted gay teen. Both Wills meet eventually and their lives begin to change, leading to epiphanies on both their parts. (There's also a character named Jane who is a music snob and I'm left wondering why she was included at all. Her relationship with Will was unrealistic and too forced for my taste.)

Tiny Cooper is gay and "out and proud" in the biggest sense of the phrase. Green and Levithan use Tiny to bring about both Wills' epiphanies. Green has said that Tiny is his favorite character that he has written...and I have to wonder, why? Now don't get your dander up and wonder if my dislike of Tiny has anything to do with him being gay. If you know me at all, you know I am a HUGE supporter of the LGBT community and am pretty involved in it. There's just something that rubs me the wrong way about Tiny. He's loud and self-absorbed, yet other characters seem to gravitate toward him.

And the way Green's Will Grayson describes Tiny annoyed the hell out of me. Green writes, "Tiny Cooper is not the world's gayest person, and he is not the world's largest person, but I believe he may be the world's largest person who is really, really gay, and also the world's gayest person who is really, really large." The enormity of Tiny is reiterated ad nauseam. I understand that the reader needs to remember that Tiny is a big guy in order for Tiny's spiel about his struggles and loving himself to have an impact, but my God. I get it, Green. Let's move along and talk about something other than the miracle of Tiny fitting himself into a car or how he eats 10 hotdogs in 1 sitting or almost breaks the swing set when he sits down. The introduction to Tiny is memorable enough for his hugeness not to be mentioned every few pages. Trust the reader to remember.

That being said...I enjoyed this read-through a helluva lot more than the first, when my reaction was pretty much, "What the hell did I just read and why does it exist?" I really liked Levithan's Will. He was angsty and brooding and is able to pass as a teen with depression. He's not just sad or upset with life, he actually has a mental illness.

A couple quotes stood out to me:

• when things break, it's not the actual breaking that prevents them from getting back together again. it's because a little piece gets lost -- the two ends couldn't fit together even if they wanted to. the whole shape has changed. (Levithan's Will, whose chapters are written in lowercase letters)
• i will admit that there's a certain degree of giving a fuck that goes into not giving a fuck. by saying you don't care if the world falls apart, in some small way, you're saying you want it to stay together, on your terms.

Overall this is my least favorite John Green novel, but it made me interested in reading more of David Levithan's work.

Rating: 4/10

Books 7, 8, and 9

I plan on reviewing them soon, so check back. I'm currently reading book 10 Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan.

Book 6 - Ghost World

Completed January 20th



I first read this in a literature class years ago. In fact, this is the first graphic novel I ever read. There is a movie loosely based on it, but it's VERY different...and this is one of those rare occasions when I like the movie more than the book...though both rock.

This novel is a slice-of-life story involving 2 best friends, Enid and Rebecca. They're cynical hipsters with too much time on their hands. Enid criticizes everything and every body she comes in contact with while Becky does the same, but more mildly. The story starts off pretty much coherent, but by the end each scene is practically 5 panels long and it gets jumbled.

It's a quick read and definitely worth it.

Favorite passage:

• "The trouble is the kind of guy I want to go out with doesn't even exist ---Like a rugged, chain-smoking, intellectual, adventurer guy, who's really serious, but also really funny and mean." -Enid
  

Rating: 7/10

Book 5 - A Clockwork Orange

Completed January 20th



I've attempted this beast before, but quickly decided you need a freakin' cipher to decode it. The language used is an obscure future-slang and you have to use context clues to figure it out. I actually started a list of the words and my definitions...ended up with 3 columns on a post-it.

If you've seen the movie, you know it's super violent, involving rape, people being beaten, and pretty much any graphic content you can imagine. As much as I complained about the slang, that's what saved this book for me. What it has going for it is that the weird language had me unscrambling what they were saying, so I was responding more intellectually than emotionally, if that makes sense. If regular English would have been used, it probably would've been too much.

I ended up enjoying this one, which surprised me. The edition I have includes an extra final chapter that Burgess added to the British version originally...so it ends differently than the film. And I prefer the book ending...but I kind of hated the movie.

Favorite passages:

• "Oh, just to keep walking," I said, "and viddy what turns up, O my little brothers."
• But, brothers, this biting of their toenails over what is the cause of badness is what turns me into a fine laughing malchick. They don't go into what is the cause of goodness, so why of the other shop?
  

Rating: 7/10

Book 4 - The Handmaid's Tale

Finished January 16th

Picked this up at a used bookstore a couple years ago. The only thing that took some getting used to was the massive amount of description. It's like Atwood wants the reader to see exactly what she sees in her head...it leaves little room for imagination and assumption on the reader's part. It was too much for my taste. I felt bound, if that makes sense...not free to see what I wanted. Which, I guess is fitting, now that I think about it. (The Handmaids in the novel wear what I would call "blinders," like race horses, so they are restricted in what they can see and other people cannot see their faces.)

Here's the description on the back of the book:

Offred (of Fred) jumps back and forth between the past and present throughout the novel. Atwood writes in a style that was a bit confusing for me at first because there's generally no segue between the time switches and the dialogue isn't written as I'm used to. Hardly any quotation marks. It's all just a free-association-type thing. But good. I did enjoy it. It got me to thinking about a lot of social themes and how far a government will go to maintain control if they are uncontested.

Memorable quotations:

• It isn't running away they're afraid of. We wouldn't get far. It's those other escapes, the ones you can open in yourself, given a cutting edge.
• We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.
• But remember that forgiveness too is a power. To beg for it is a power, and to withhold or bestow it is a power, perhaps the greatest.
  

My rating: 7/10

Book 3 - The Bell Jar

Completed January 12th

I know the book looks a little shabby. I picked it up in a used book store a while back. Also, the paper inside is my book mark...I take notes when I read.

*is a nerd*

This is a book about mental breakdown. It begins with Esther (the main character) starting a summer internship. She's relatively stable and takes the reader through some of her new experiences. But slowly we see her unravel, losing confidence, becoming more depressed, and eventually being committed.

I loved it. Beautifully written. It's like stepping inside someone else's mind in a way I've never experienced. When Esther did or saw something awkward, I felt embarrassed as if I had had the experience as well. It really sucked me into her world. I felt Esther's confusion, sadness, pain, fear. And it was refreshing.

Some of my favorite passages:

• I should have been excited the way most of the other girls were, but I couldn't get myself to react. I felt very still and very empty, the way the eye of a tornado must feel, moving dully along in the middle of the surrounding hullabaloo.
• I felt sorry when I came to the last page. I wanted to crawl in between those black lines of print they way you crawl through a fence, and go to sleep under that beautiful big green fig tree.
• So I began to think maybe it was true that when you were married and had children it was like being brainwashed, and afterward you went about numb as a slave in some private, totalitarian state.
• I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am.
  

Rating: 9 out of 10

Book 2 - Watchmen

Finished January 5th!



No big review this time. I enjoyed it. Draggy in some parts. I did like the extra documents inserted throughout the novel.

Also -> Best. Opening. Ever:




Some of my favorite passages:

• "I'm going to look at the stars. They are so far away, and their light takes so long to reach us...all we ever see of stars are their old photographs." -Dr. Manhattan
• "Children starve while boots costing many thousands of dollars leave their mark upon the surface of the moon. We have labored long to build a heaven, only to find it populated with horrors. It is the oldest of ironies that are still the most satisfying: man, when preparing for bloody war, will orate loudly and most eloquently in the name of peace." -Additional material
• "This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It's us. Only us. -Rorschach

7 of 10

Book 1 - Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

So here we are...The 50 Book Challenge!

I'm not going to make a list of books before I read them because I think it'll limit me...and I'm a moody book chooser. I started this one ...



...a couple days before 2011, but finished 3/4 of it on the 1st, so I'm counting it as book number 1!

I first read this novel in an undergrad parody literature class several years ago and it has been a favorite since that time. You know how (or maybe you don’t) the Bible goes from Jesus being ~12 to 30 with no story in between? Well, Jesus’ pal Biff is resurrected to tell the true tale from his point of view in this novel.

Religion aside, at its base this book is just about an awkward kid trying to find himself and figure out his destiny. The journey Joshua (Jesus' name...from the Hebrew Yeshua) and Biff take is epic. It's hilarious without trying too hard, but also deeply moving. Some might think that a new gospel about Jesus' life would be dull and moral. Well, this isn't that kind of gospel. We get to see characters from the Bible like never before...from Joshua's hot mom Mary to the smart and strong Maggie, who is known as Mary Magdalene...not to mention a more up close look at the 3 wise men. Here, this explains it better...




You know how the story ends when you begin it. Joshua is crucified. As an abstract idea it's still powerful to think of crucifixion, but after getting to know Joshua over the last 300 pages--to read about his struggles and all he has learned, about his hope for humanity, the absolute purity of him--it's heartbreaking. Tears. Seriously. Tears for Joshua's end and the end of Biff's gospel in general.

This is a must-read. You even have the author's blessing...



I wanted to start the year off with something I knew I liked and this is in the top 5 for me.

Rating: 10/10