Young Adult

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

2009, Books in Bed, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I wonder if I found The Forest of Hands and Teeth through the BlogHer Book Club Group or was it a book that TW saw reviewed and then asked me to reserve at the library. I hate it when I can’t remember. Quick search of the Book Club group doesn’t pull up results so I’m guessing it was TW. Or maybe it was you, some random book blogger out there?

Whatever. We listened to it on audio and boy was it long. Not really but it sure felt long. The author writes the way we picture RJ would write if she was writing post apocalyptic fiction about teens and The Unconsecrated (aka Zombies.) Yes Zombies.

The story was interesting. The characters never quite became interesting. I liked the Sisters the best and we didn’t learn nearly enough about them due to the Unconsecrated attack on the village.

I definitely liked the book more than TW did. She was frustrated by the teen girl who never seemed to learn anything. I think she did learn from her experiences, she learned the way teens do. Slowly and painfully and never quite making as much progress as you’d like.

Feels like a sequel might be in the works and I wouldn’t mind reading it if it appears.

*Update: Of course I had to go and look to see if there is a sequel in the works, should have done that before I wrote this… there’s a prequel due to be published in March 2010. Fascinating.

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Catching Fire

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Young Adult /

TW read Catching Fire first. When she got to the end she said “this ended in a really bad place.” That was an understatement.

I expected some of what happened. I did not expect most of what happened. And no, I didn’t expect it to end quite that way.

I think, besides being #TeamKatniss, I’m also #TeamPeeta.

Now how long do we have to wait until the third book is out? Because I really need to know what happens NEXT.

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A Curse Dark as Gold

2 Comments / 2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I loved A Curse Dark as Gold more than I love Rumpelstiltskin or any other similar story. I loved the characters. I loved the ending. Yes, I loved the ending – can you believe it? I was afraid I’d hate the ending, particularly when I was down to the last 50 pages and was loving it so much. I just knew something was going to happen to ruin it. But nope, excellent. All the way through.

Great Cybil selection!

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Three Cybils that I didn’t love

2 Comments / 2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Non-Fiction, Young Adult /

The search is on for this year’s Cybils judges and this sent me into a bit of a panic. New judges and I haven’t finished last year’s winners yet? Ugh. So, I’m on a mission to get these finished asap. As sassymonkey smartly reminded me mid-freakout, I’m almost finished.

I finished 3 middle grade/YA non-fiction this weekend and I didn’t love any of them.

Swords was the most disappointing because I was really looking forward to it. It wasn’t horrible, I just wanted more than I got.

I was pretty bored by Lincoln Through the Lens but I expected to be bored so that’s ok.

I enjoyed We Are the Ship the most out of the three. I have a fondness for Negro League Baseball stories because the men behind the teams were brilliant and those stories aren’t told often enough. The athletes were fantastic but it’s the owners and managers who I’m more interested in. I got some of those stories in this book, and I appreciate that.

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The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

2009, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Mystery, Young Adult /

Flavia is my new favorite girl character! (Which leads me to the question, why isn’t this listed as a YA book?)

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie appeared on my reserve list thanks to someone on the BlogHer Book Club Group. I can’t remember who exactly mentioned it but someone did. It sounded good, so I reserved it.

I didn’t expect it to be quite this good, particularly since it’s a British book and I’m not a huge fan of the British mystery. Flavia just rocks and her sisters are pretty fascinating as well.

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Graceling

4 Comments / 2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Feminism, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I wasn’t going to read Graceling because I am way behind and have a huge stack of books I need to read so that I can review them. Or read so that I can finish my challenges.

But TW insisted Graceling was good. Really good. And I wasn’t feeling very well, so a serious non-fiction book about a GI doctor seemed like less than perfect reading for a stomach flu kind of day.

TW was right. Graceling was really good. Another strong female character. A strong supporting female character. Male characters that run the range of good and evil, some that are a combo of both. And of course, there’s the “Grace”. How those who are graced are treated. What types of graces there are. Very interesting.

*Duh. Just realized the reason we had this book in the first place is that it was a Cybils book. Too bad it had so much competition in that category.*

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Highway to Hell

2009, Books in Bed, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Women, Young Adult /

I didn’t mean to start reading Highway to Hell. I simply lost the book I was supposed to be reading and this one was nearby. If I had realized it was the third in the series, I’d have worked harder to find the book I’d lost. I hate reading a series out of order.

Maybe that’s why it took me so long to finish it?

Nah. It took me so long because I was a) exhausted post-BlogHerCon b) sick c) working my butt off.

If I hadn’t been experiencing all three of those things at once, I’d have finished it in a day. And probably enjoyed it a good bit more than I did.

It was a fun book. It must by YA but I’m too exhausted, sick and busy to double check. If it isn’t labeled YA, it should be.

Demons. Evil geniuses. Brujas. Great girl power characters.

I have the first two books in the series now and I look forward to going back and starting at the beginning.

**updated** No wonder the characters in this book seemed so familiar… we read book 1, Prom Dates from Hell in 2007. And loved it.

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Thaw

2009, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Fiction, Young Adult /

Another Cybil down… Thaw was good but it’s another one of those books that adults think kids should read (and love) and I don’t think kids will.

And, it’s a BOY problem book. And boy does he have problems, GBS isn’t even his biggest problem. His biggest problem is that he’s an ASS and we get to blame his ASS of a dad.

I’d like to speak with a teenager who has read this one…

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