Mosquitoland by David Arnold

“I am a collection of oddities, a circus of neurons and electrons: my heart is the ringmaster, my soul is the trapeze artist, and the world is my audience. It sounds strange because it is, and it is, because I am strange.” 

Mosquitoland, by David Arnold turned out to be a fantastic book along the lines of Eleanor & Park and All the Bright Places.

The book tells the story of Mary Iris Malone, “acroname” Mim, who has been transported by her dad and his new wife from Ohio to Mississippi – aka Mosquitoland.  After overhearing a conversation between her parents and a school administrator, Mim comes to the terrifying realization that her real mom is sick.

Without waiting to get the whole story, Mim runs home, packs the pills she takes for her purported mental illness, steals her stepmom’s stash of cash, and sets off on an epic Greyhound bus journey from Mississippi to Ohio.

Along the way, Mim meets the Carlest of Carls, the Clairest of Claires, and Arlene, a grande dame of the old school.  She also finds a sense of belonging with Walt, a mentally challenged homeless kid with a Rubik’s Cube and a love of baseball and shiny things, and the handsome, slightly older Beck, a guy on a bus journey of his own.

Mosquitoland is hilarious and touching at the same time, and I feel sure this first reading will be followed by a few more.

LAME FACTOR: 0 of 5, of course.

YOUR PARENTS WILL FREAK FACTOR:  It’s pretty tame, all things considered.

BRAIN POWER:  The writing is fantastic.  It will be good for your brain cells to get some exercise. 

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

I absolutely loved Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi.  The first in a series of three books, Shatter Me introduces the characters who play throughout: Juliette, Adam, and Warner. Two guys?  You already see a problem.

The story opens with the main character, Juliette, imprisoned in an asylum.  In this dystopian society, there is no touchy feely treatment of sick people or prisoners.  Instead, Juliette has been locked away in a very solitary solitary confinement without sufficient food or comfort of any kind.  When we first meet her, she seems to be teetering on the edge of insanity as a result of the isolation.  She also struggles with the knowledge of what she is and what she can do: a person who can kill someone simply by touching him/her.

Just when Juliette seems ready to lose it completely, she gets a roommate, Adam.  Young, good-looking, and curious enough about Juliette that he actually wants to talk to her, he is your basic hot guy character.  But maybe Adam isn't everything he appears to be (except the hot part; that seems accurate).  Is he there to help Juliette or to hurt her?

When she is suddenly dragged out of her cell and brought to the young commanding officer, Warner, things take an unexpected change.  Warner, it appears, believes that Juliette would make the perfect tool in his army.  He also has a massive - and a little bit inexplicable - instantaneous attraction to Juliette.  Oh - and Adam seems to work for him.

So is Adam a traitor?  What's Warner's deal?  Is Juliette going to fall for him or maybe for Adam after all?  You'll just have to read it and find out.

LAME FACTOR:  I loved it so a definite 0/5.

YOUR PARENTS WILL FREAK FACTOR:  In spite of Juliette's supposed inability to touch anyone without killing him, there is lots of touching, but nothing too explicit.

BRAIN POWER:  The story is well-written but easy enough for the average reader.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss was one of those books that got me so hooked into the relationships between the characters that I wanted to skip to the end to see what happened.  I would like to say that I was mature and resisted the temptation, but I only held out overnight and then took a look.

Anna Oliphant, a student happily heading into her senior year in high school in Atlanta, has her world turned upside down when her father announces that he has signed her up for a year in a Parisian boarding school, mainly so that he can show off to his friends.

I don't think it takes much imagination to figure out that Anna absolutely hates the idea.  She wants to be with her mom and brother, to develop her relationship with her latest romantic interest, Toph, and to hang out and enjoy her last year of high school with her best friend.  Worse, when she does arrive in Paris, she feels as though she doesn't fit in.  She's intimidated by the people, by her inability to speak French, and by all of the unfamiliar territory around her.

But Anna is a really likeable girl and soon enough she makes friends, including the American/British/French hybrid Etienne St. Clair.  Anna barely has to look at him before she totally falls for him - as is the likely reaction of the reader as well.  He is simultaneously cool and nerdy, troubled and sweet.  He also has a long time girlfriend, something neither Anna nor Etienne is willing to forget.

So how does it turn out?  Have some self-control (unlike yours truly) and read it through to the end.

LAME FACTOR: 0 of 5 of course!

YOUR PARENTS WILL FREAK FACTOR:  There are some normal teenage shenanigans.

BRAIN POWER:  You can handle it.

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Review Time: Thanks for the Trouble by Tommy Wallach

Thanks for the Trouble was an interesting book on many levels.  First of all - as always with a good book - there were the characters.  Parker is a teenage boy who has suffered a tragedy that has left him unable to speak.  He is sweet and funny and kind and, ironically, he has a real talent for words as he demonstrates through the stories he writes.

Zelda is a total throwback to another time - "anachronistic," Parker says.  She appears to be young, but she has the knowledge and experience of someone much older.  She has a sophisticated understanding of art and music, alcohol and food, cities and countries.  She is nothing like anyone Parker has ever encountered, and he falls for her immediately.

The book also has a cast of secondary characters, each well developed in his or her own way, each one bringing his/her own spin on some element of the story.  I especially liked Parker's friend Alana, who is tough and funny and super smart - the prodigy of the school chess club.

And then there is there is the plot.  I really enjoyed some aspects of the plot because they were so original - the interactions of a young and silent petty thief who preys on unsuspecting tourists in hotels meeting a silver-haired young woman who carries around a giant wad of cash and calls herself Zelda.  I kept wondering how the author came up with it all because it was so atypical.  In addition, strewn throughout the story there are thought provoking messages about love, life, and suffering.

But something happened.  Weirdness.  The insertion of a seemingly fantasy element that left me wondering if I had actually understood anything.  I'm not sure that part was necessary (although I'm sure the author would disagree!) but the twist doesn't detract enough from the story to ruin it.

Overall, Thanks for the Trouble was engaging and original and definitely worth a read.

LAME FACTOR:  I'm going to have to throw in a 1 for the plot twist, so 1/5.

YOUR PARENTS WILL FREAK FACTOR:  I suppose you know your parents best.  Younger readers should probably check in with them first.

BRAIN POWER:  The book is extremely well written with some awesome vocabulary.  Go learn something.

Book Nerds Unite!

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Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell - Review Time

To know me is to know that I love Rainbow Rowell, or more specifically, that I am obsessed with her book Eleanor & Park which I consider to be some sort of YA literary perfection.  If you're like me, when you feel this way about a book, you want another so you go searching through the author's other works with the hopes that there will be another one that is just as good.  And while I'm not sure anything could live up to my Eleanor & Park level expectations, Fangirl definitely did not disappoint.

The novel follows the story of twin sisters Cath and Wren as they begin college.  Throughout their teen years, the two of them experienced their own literary obsession with a series of books featuring characters named Simon and Baz.  Cath has become a very popular and prolific author of fan fiction related to the series, and continues this into college.  Wren?  Not so much.  She has other things to think about - like guys and alcohol.  Silly Wren.

Cath clearly uses Simon and Baz as a kind of coping mechanism and I'm cool with that because I found her to be so totally likeable - and relatable.  Let's face it: if you're a big reader (the kind of person who reads excessively and perhaps, writes a book review blog) there's a pretty good chance you have a lot of nerdy tendencies.  Along with that, you may be a bit on the anxiety-riddled side.  I know I am.  So when we learn that Cath has brought along several boxes of protein bars and a giant jar of peanut butter because she's afraid to confront the unfamiliar territory of the dining hall, I could totally relate.  This made me feel comfortable, like Cath and I were sharing some struggles.

Will Cath remain cloistered in her room, friendless, loveless, sisterless? Of course not.  Enter Levi, her roommate's sort of boyfriend.  Levi is one of the most pleasant male characters I've ever encountered - considerate, sweet, as friendly as a puppy.  Watching their relationship develop was one of the highlights of the book.

I can't say I was a super big fan of the fan fiction and, frankly, I started skimming it after a while. That said, I don't feel that it was a hindrance to enjoying the book at all.

LAME FACTOR: 0 of 5 without a doubt

YOUR PARENTS WILL FREAK FACTOR: Nope

BRAIN POWER:  Well written but accessible to all.

Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon - The Review

After having read two books that I didn't enjoy, Everything Everything was a welcome relief!  The characters, what have I been saying about characters?  They are the stuff that make a book enjoyable - at least for me - and these two were great.

Just when I started thinking all the original ideas had been taken, Everything Everything introduces Maddy, who suffers from a kind of "girl in the bubble" syndrome.  She hasn't been out of her house in forever (literally) and the only people with whom she has direct contact are her mom, who is a doctor, and her nurse, the warm and loving Carla.  Everybody else is just a face on a computer screen.

Carla seems surprisingly well adjusted for someone who's facing down a future of being trapped in her house without the prospect of real live friends or of even breathing unfiltered air.  She reads, she studies, she has a great relationship with her mom - who has given up everything but her job to tend to Maddy - and Carla.

Clearly, that's not going to be enough, either for Maddy or for us.  Enter Olly.  Dressed all in black (aren't they all?), Olly is funny and smart and sweet.  He's also persistent and isn't put off by the fact that he and Carla won't ever really be able to meet?  Or will they?

I'm not going to spoil things here, people, except to say that I was satisfied with the way things worked out.  You should read it and find out exactly how it does work out.

LAME FACTOR:  Happily, a 0 out of 5.

YOUR PARENTS WILL FREAK FACTOR:  For the most part, they will not, although perhaps this isn't for super young readers (less than 8th grade).

BRAIN POWER:  The story is very well written, but there's nothing too tricky here.

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Vinegar Girl: The Review

I tried, people, I really did. I wanted to like this book, mostly because I understand the work that goes into writing a book and I hate bashing someone's efforts but...yuck.

I suppose I should start by saying that Vinegar Girl is a retelling of William Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew," so in terms of plot, the ideas were pre-formulated and the author does a very good job of altering various element's of the play to fit into her story.

In this version, Kate Battista, 29-year old nursery school teaching assistant, spends most of her life catering to the whims of her father, a scientist working on a supposedly cutting edge project. Father has a lot to say about what to eat and how to run the house and most of it seems pretty ridiculous, particularly as it puts a tremendous burden on Kate. For her part, Kate likes to think of herself as a straight talking, no nonsense woman, but in reality, she puts up with a lot of nonsense.

And then her father totally loses his mind and suggests that Kate marry his lab assistant, the sort of likeable Pyotr, so that Pyotr can get a green card and stay in the US to continue working on their project. The idea, of course, is totally ridiculous, but Kate's dad almost acts like she owes it to him, in spite of the fact that he has all but abandoned Kate and her younger sister in order to pursue his work goals. At first, he seems to try to get the two of them to actually like one another, but later,lets Kate know that he doesn't think she's ever going to find anyone else, so why not? Kate explodes and tells her dad to go to hell, right? Nope. Not even a little bit.

In the end, the men in this story are allowed to act like jerks and Kate even dismisses their behavior by feeling sorry for men because they aren't allowed to express their feelings honestly as it puts them at risk of looking unmanly. What is this, the 1950s? I thought my head would explode.

Likewise, in addition to the antiquated ideas, there was quite a bit of old-fashioned vocabulary: in a snit, conniption, quick as a wink. Most young women just don't speak like that - even the nerdy ones.

I will forego the usual lame scale since this is a book for adults and that really applies to YA, but I think you get the idea.

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Review of The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender

So I'm a little bit of a, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all," kind of person, but then I don't have any business reviewing books if that's the case, do I?  Yeah, so this book, not a big fan.

First off, let me say that I absolutely loved this author's book Bad Girls Don't Die because she understands exactly what makes a book scary.  I'm a little over saturated in spooky stuff what with the forty thousand paranormal shows I watch on a regular basis, so it's a little hard to scare me.  I'm convinced that I would be the world's worst ghost hunter because no matter what weird thing happens or what unexplained noise I hear, I tend to ignore it completely.  That said, I was so excited to find Bad Girls Don't Die to be an actually scary story, full of the plot and setting details that make a tale frightening.

The same, more or less, can be said for The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall.  There were all of the usual spooky details - and more.  The story also surprised me not once, but twice, with plot twists I didn't see coming.  That in and of itself is an achievement as I have read so many, many books that I nearly always have the plot figured out in advance.

What's the problem then?  The characters.  Ugh.  The characters.  The main character, Delia, her parents, her sister Janie, an odd assortment of ghosts: I didn't like any of them.  They were reasonably well developed but they just weren't likeable.  And their interactions.  Yuck.  They need some intensive family therapy.  I kept hoping they would learn things over the course of the story and redeem themselves, and while there were some changes, I just didn't find them to be enough to make me like them.

Likes and dislikes are personal things, of course, so check it out for yourself.  The setting, the surprises, and the creep factor may be enough to catch your interest.

LAME FACTOR: Sadly, I would give it a 2/5

YOUR PARENTS WILL FREAK FACTOR: Only if they don't want you reading about the paranormal.

BRAIN POWER:  This is well written but within the reading abilities of an average YA reader.

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What Do You Like in a Character?

For me, the characters are what make the book.  Obviously, there needs to be an engaging plot, excellent writing, and an interesting setting, but if I don't like the main characters, I most likely will not enjoy the book.

What is it we look for in the characters we read about?  I often find myself drawn to those who have the qualities I admire most: intelligence, resourcefulness, goodness.  Jane Eyre and her level-headed, no drama self is probably my favorite, even if she isn't always the most fun.  In modern, YA terms, I've really enjoyed Grace Brisbane in Shiver and Eleanor Douglas in Eleanor & Park.  Grace and Eleanor are each more mature than the adults who should be guiding them and while each deals with vastly different issues (Shiver being paranormal and Eleanor & Park, realistic fiction), they both do so with a minimum of unnecessary drama.

It's interesting, then, when I come across a character who is the complete opposite of these things and still find him incredibly appealing like Marshall Holt in Places No One Knows by one of my favorite authors, Brenna Yovanoff.  The word I run across most often when reading a description of Marshall in reviews is "loser," and yet I didn't think so at all.  Yes, he is everything I usually hate: a slacker, a stoner, etc., but the way the author infuses him sweetness, sensitivity, and innate goodness, makes me want to forget about that.  Instead of being attracted to the super genius, perfectionist Waverly Camdenmar, I was Team Marshall all the way.  In the end, I suppose it is the author's talent for developing complex characters that sent me in this unexpected direction.

So what is it you like in a main character?

My progress on The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall with the help of Sherlock

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The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender

I have read thousands and thousands of books, one every two or three days for years, so I generally have a good idea of where a story is headed right from the start. It's a little bit like a Hallmark movie: watch a few and you can roughly figure out the plot of the others.

So I can't believe that I'm super shocked by the turn of events in this book and I'm only on page 61. I'm really looking forward to seeing just how wrong I am.  It's nice to know that books can still hold surprises!

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Happy Birthday, Pablo Neruda!

Absorb these words of wisdom about reading from Pablo Neruda:

"The books that help you most are those which make you think the most.  The hardest way of learning is that of easy reading; but a great book that comes from a great thinker is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth and beauty."

It's thinking like that that will get you a Nobel Prize.

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The Review of All The Light We Cannot See - Finally!

One of the interesting things about having your knee replaced is the amazing amount of difficulty you have sleeping.  Who knew? With many extra hours of the day (night?) on my hands, and only so many Gilmore Girl reruns I can watch, I recently took a break from the YA books to read All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.  It was absolutely astounding.

The story itself is highly engaging.  Set in World War II France and Germany, the book alternates between the stories of the blind French girl, Marie Laure LeBlanc and the young German, Werner Pfennig.  Each grows and develops over the course of the story, starting as young children with interests, hopes, fears.  Ultimately, the war intrudes on their lives and teaches them about suffering and cruelty, but also about kindness and the ability to find joy in small things, as well.  The plot, the characters, the setting all weave together to build a story that is rich and complex and, ultimately, goes beyond entertaining the reader to making him/her think.

While I read, I also found myself thinking how impressive it is that the author appears to have a very expansive knowledge of a wide variety of subjects including history, natural science, and mechanics.  Reading the book from that perspective, I found myself almost as interested in the information I was learning as in the progress of the story.  The author’s setting details were particularly on point.  I’m fortunate enough to spend every other summer in France with my husband’s family and I could clearly envision all of the people and places I know in the author’s descriptions.

As though all of these things aren’t enough to make the story great, the biggest reason I enjoyed it so much was the beauty of the language.  In thinking over the story afterwards, it occurred to me that the language was used to describe things the way one would explain them to a blind person – the sights, the smells, the sounds, the sensations.

This book is way too good for me to even suggest it might be lame, so I’m going to skip that particular part of my usual review.  Let me just say that this should most absolutely be your next summer read.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

I just finished All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. It was so utterly amazing, I barely feel capable of writing a review that will do it justice, but I'm going to give it a few days and try to come up with something that captures the wonder of this book.

Let me just leave you with this sample of the beauty of the language:

“His voice is low and soft, a piece of silk you might keep in a drawer and pull out only on rare occasions, just to feel it between your fingers.”

You should probably go read the rest of this yourself.

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

I'm taking a little break from YA books to read this masterpiece, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.  Why didn't I do this sooner?  Stay tuned for the review.

Need help finding a summer reading book?

If you're a student, most likely you've gotten some sort of summer reading assignment.  Believe me, it can't be any worse than the one I give my students.  So why do we do it?  Because every study shows that if you don't actually do any reading over the summer you do enormous damage to your reading skills/level.  Good luck fixing that!

So what are you going to read?  How to figure it out?

Good nerd that I am, I just downloaded the YALSA Teen Book Finder app.  YALSA, the Young Adult Library Services Association is a fantastic source of suggestions for summer - or any time of year - reading.  They have book lists that go back years with categories and descriptions.  I've found tons of great books this way, so give it a shot.

Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet by Charlie N. Holmberg

Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet is the fifth Charlie Holmberg novel in a row that I’ve read.  I loved The Paper Magician Series and really liked Followed by Frost.  Naturally, I also enjoyed this book Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet but here’s what I learned: I don’t think I like fantasy all that much.

That said, the degree to which I enjoyed or did not enjoy this story has less to do with the author and her writing and more with my personal taste because Charlie Holmberg is a master at creating fantasy worlds.  As someone who has completed one novel and is working on a second, I can’t even begin to understand how Holmberg comes up with all of these amazing elements: the intriguing plot, the original fantasy characters, an otherworldly setting. 

As for the story itself, Maire has a problem in that there is a huge chunk of her life she can’t remember.  She also has a great gift, the ability to infuse emotion into her baked goods.  It’s a skill that definitely ramps up business in her shop; it’s also a skill that draws unwanted attention and soon, she finds herself a slave to the somewhat psycho Allemas after her town is sacked by roving bandits.  Allemas is a highly abusive master and that is something I really had a problem with in that there are some pretty graphic and repetitive scenes of violence and pain.  To be honest, I think I lean toward “nice” stories (think Jane Austen) and all the hitting and broken bones started to be too much.

The book does have its “nice” aspects, of course, particularly in the form of the mysterious and angelic Fyel, a white, winged male character who seems to have played an important role in Maire’s past.  Maire herself is also a good person who looks to be kind and forgiving even in the face of extreme cruelty.

Overall, if you enjoy fantasy and you don’t mind a good punch in the face, I think you will very much enjoy Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet.

LAME FACTOR:  I may not have loved every minute, but it definitely wasn’t lame.  0/5

YOUR PARENTS WILL FREAK FACTOR:  This is more of an adult than a YA book, but it’s still pretty tame except for the violence.

BRAIN POWER:  As with all of this author’s books, it is well written but entirely within the grasp of an average reader.