links for 2011-04-17
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Jenn and Teddy …
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Delirium
Last fall, Diane from Teen Book Fanatics raved and raved about new YA author, Lauren Oliver. She told me I had to read Before I Fall… and I did, eventually. Diane was right – it was a great book.
Flash forward to a couple of weeks ago and Carmen from Mom to the Screaming Masses tweeted to recommend a YA book called Delirium. I looked it up and saw that it was written by Lauren Oliver. Well that was enough for me – I reserved the book right away.
And it was awesome.
Post apocalyptic fiction where all of the world’s problems were solved by finding a cure for a horrible horrible disease – Love. AKA Amor Deliria Nervosa. When kids reach the age of 18, they’re given the cure (surgical removal of part of the brain), paired with a mate, given a job (and/or a place in a college) and life goes on, without love.
What I really like about Oliver’s books is that there are no happy endings – the right things happen, but that doesn’t mean people are happy and all of the problems are solved in the end. It’s usually just the opposite but it feels real and right.
I would really like a sequel to this book. I’d like to see what happens next – to Lena. Maybe to Alex, if he survived. Or to Hana. Or Grace. Anyone from the story, really. They’re all interesting and I think they all have things to say that they didn’t have a chance to say in Delirium.
Waltzing at the Piggly Wiggly
A few weeks ago, Sassymonkey mentioned the Piggly Wiggly series to me – it sounded vaguely familiar but I’ve never read them. Seemed like a good series for TW’s mom, so I grabbed the first one, Waltzing in the Piggly Wiggly, in large print… sure enough, she read it and loved it. Chuckled her way through it. I read it next and it was certainly amusing but boy was there a lot of sex for a book about small town 50/60/70 year old widows in rural Mississippi! Sheesh.
I miss the Piggly Wiggly. No idea why, since my mother didn’t really shop there when I was a kid.
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Nancy Drew: Mystery of the Fire Dragon
Several nights ago, I finished the book I was reading at about 10pm and didn’t feel like that was a good time to start another really long novel, so I grabbed The Mystery of the Fire Dragon (which was still in the bedroom from the readathon last weekend) – Nancy Drews are excellent books to (re) read when it’s too late at night to start another book – or when life is really hectic. Simple, amusing, flashbacks to childhood.
It’s always funny to read about Nancy and her friends getting a passport in an hour. (Always travel with your birth certificate – you never know when you’ll need it to get that passport!) So funny.
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Because of Mr Terupt
What a deceptive little book. The cover is boring. The title is boring. The concept seems boring too. How many books have you read about 4th or 5th grade teachers who have an awesome teacher? A lot, right? Ho hum.
Well there’s something special about Because of Mr Terupt, besides Mr Terupt being a special teacher. The book just works. Even when it shouldn’t. Even when you know exactly what’s going to happen and you should be bored stiff. You aren’t bored AT ALL.
What happens next? I must know.
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Sister Outsider
I decided to re-read Sister Outsider during the #Readathon and as part of my From the Stacks (by color) challenge for this year… there’s nobody better than Audre Lorde to get me riled up and pointing out the patriarchy at every turn. There’s also nobody better to read when you’re also reading Joan Walsh and Angry Black Lady… in fact, I’d recommend Joan Walsh spend some time reading Sister Outsider before she opens her mouth or puts her fingers to her keyboard again.
Hell. Maybe if we all read a Lorde essay every day for the rest of our lives, we might just be able to have these discussions and figure out how to work together.
Goodnight #readathon
Alrighty – I’m done. Wiped out. Can’t go on. 100 pages left in Sister Outsider, I just can’t finish tonight. My eyes are way too tired and I don’t want to read Audre Lorde that way – even if I have read all of these essays before.
Total pages read: 1,386
Five and a half books finished.
It was fun and I cannot wait til the next #readathon.
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Nancy Drew keeps me going #readathon
So sad, my copy of The Clue in the Old Stagecoach is in bad shape. The binding is a mess and I was terrified I was going to lose the last 75 pages with each turn of the page. Also… gah, the girls dating different boys always throws me, does it throw you? Thankfully, Ned and gang showed up in the end. 😉
180 pages – good late readathon book.
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Five Books Down #Readathon
Ruined By Reading has been on our bookshelves for ages (it’s red… a note to myself for my From the Stacks by Color Challenge) and I decided it might be a nice book to read during the readathon. Since, it’s about books – and more importantly about reading them.
It’s a combination of literary theory and memoir and led me to wonder about my own reading habits – and to think of the books I loved and didn’t love, to remember books fondly or not so fondly.
How do you read? Why do you read? Are you doing it wrong? Are others doing it wrong? Is there a wrong way – or a right way?
Interesting stuff lurking here.
*119 pages*
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