Thursday, August 4, 2011

Deadline by Chris Crutcher

What would you do if your doctor told you that you probably only have a year to live? And that the treatments you can do to help it only might help it? And you are eighteen years old, so it's your choice what you do. Would you try to fix it? Or would you just live it out? And who would you tell? Or would you tell anybody? These are the choices that Ben Wolf is faced with in Deadline.

This book gets a three point five star review from me...I liked it a lot. But I don't like football much at all, and it didn't explain on the cover that a huge part of the book is about football. I mean, I really don't like to listen to people talking about football, and I don't like to read about it. It makes it sound on the back like it's more about track, but it's not. It's about football. Now, if you like football, that's great. Read it. Because it's also a good book about death, so yeah...it's pretty good.
One thing I have to say about this book is that the parts that take place in the classroom are soooo unrealistic. If we talked to a teacher at our school the way that Ben talks to one of his, we'd get our asses sent straight to detention. Just sayin'. I mean, we'd get a warning, but those parts were just annoying. I mean...it was just stupid...teachers don't let you talk to them like that. Even if they are pushovers.
So would I reccomend it? Sure. Why not. It's pretty good. Go ahead and see what you think.

Monday, August 1, 2011

A Rant on Spoilers

So, I'm not reviewing a book right now, I just need to get something off my chest.
The WORST thing ever is when I'm looking at books on the internet, which I do on a daily basis, and I read something about a book that I plan to read soon that totally blows the ending. And the question I have is: Why do you feel the need to blow the ending for everybody else, just because OMG IT MADE ME CRY SO HARD WHEN THIS HAPPENED! Because now, when I read the book, I'm just going to be reading the entire thing knowing what happens at the ending, making it less enjoyable.
And it'd be different if it was on the page for the book on the author's website, where it warns that there might be spoilers on that book. That would be on me. But no, it's on the 'other writing' section, where what this person said doesn't belong.
So please, people, NEVER EVER EVER post spoilers on the internet. Because somebody will be trying to find something on an upcoming book by the author, and find your damn spoiler that you just HAD to post, and get really freaking pissed off.
Goodnight.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Paper Towns by John Green

This book is one that I have meant to pick up for a while. When I was in Pigeon Forge, TN, I found this awesome bookstore with really cheap prices on brand new books, and I found this hardcover copy, with the blue cover that I had never seen before, for six bucks! I like the blue cover better than the yellow one, which I see all the time, so I picked the book up.
Paper Towns picks up speed when Margo Roth Speigelman, Quentin Jacobsen's dream girl, arrives at his window at nighttime and tells him to go with her. At first, he is hesitant, but come on, this is the famed Margo Roth Speigelman, so he has to go. Through the night, they learn things about each other and have a great time, and Quentin wonders, will that night change how things are between them?
And then Margo dissapears. Which shouldn't be that big of a deal, because she's always going off on these wacky adventures. But this time, she's eighteen. Nothing can be done to bring her back, because she has free will. And what if this time, she doesn't come back on her own? So Q sets out to find her...
One of my favorite things about this book is the writing. Everything is very well thought out, and the book is somehow humerous and serious at the same time. I can't tell you how many times I actually laughed out loud at this book, getting me many odd looks from my mom. Every character is well thought out, and some have quirky details. For example, one of Quentin's friends' parents have the largest collection of black Santas. That same friend is an obsessive mod of a site called Omnictionary. Also, this book is loaded with metaphors and allusion, mostly to a poem by Walt Whitman. If you like that stuff, read this.
This book gets my 5 star review, because it's absolutely awesome. READ IT.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Indie Reading is Now OPEN!

http://www.indiereading.blogspot.com/
Check out my new blog--it's now open! And the first post is a review of Forever Mine, featuring an interview with Elizabeth Reyes!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Gone by Lisa McMann

3/5*
Gone is the final book in the Wake Trilogy.

After the way that I liked Fade, I was excited to start reading Gone. The thing is, this one moved much slower to me. I've read reviews saying that this is the best of the trilogy. I disagree. The writing is the best, the story is the worst. That's my opinion.
Anywho, the story begins after Janie's graduation, when her and Cabel go on a little trip. Well, of course this is a book so nobody can just enjoy a trip, and they are unexpectedly forced to come home when Janie finds out that her friend had to drive Janie's mother to the hospital. When she gets there, she learns that it is not her mother who is sick, but somebody else.
Janie gets closer to this character, even though the person can't wake up. She visits the house and begins to find out a secret about the new character... And that maybe isolation wouldn't be as good as she thinks. Or...would it? Janie can't decide.
Basically, this book was the worst of the series to me because I crave adventure. This book just seemed dull and weak. I think that the final book in any series should be the strongest, and that was not the case for this one.

BTW, shoutouts to everybody who found my blog through blogger lift this week, and be sure to check out In Between Writing and Reading for my interview with Jude. It was really fun.
http://inbetweenwritingandreading.blogspot.com/2011/07/blogger-lift-13.html

Anyway, I need a shower real bad. I'm gone. (See what I did there?)

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Fade by Lisa McMann

4/5*
I finished the entire trilogy earlier (expect a Gone review soon) and I felt like Fade, the second book, was the strongest, most exciting, and overall the best book in the series.

In Fade, McMann continues Janie's story as a Dream Catcher.
Now working for the police, Captain Fran Komisky gives Janie a tough assignment: to catch the sexual predator that is working at Feildridge High. The police had been tipped off by an accidental call. The only words they picked up were fucking teachers, fucking students.
So Janie, much to Cabe's chagrin (I've always wanted to use that one XD ), takes the assignment. She closes in on a few suspicious personalities. Captain also gives her instructions to help her get closer to the teachers.
As the story goes on, the plot thickens and takes one twist that will keep you thinking. This book was a fun, fast read that I really enjoyed, even more than the first or third book. The story drags you in and forces you to keep reading until you start Gone.
Again, the writing is the same as the first book, and I can see where that would annoy you. But I think that the story is a good one.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Excuse the Construction...

Okay, for those of you who haven't noticed, I've been changing how my blog looks and giving it a sort of typewriter-looking font lately. Right now, I am mostly done. I have a new header, and a new button that you can post on your blog if you want to help this one out.
If you come to my blog and the background looks like it was thrown together in five minutes, that's because I'm having trouble with the background right now.
Basically, I'm trying to get that thing that says 'a teen's reads' over to the left, and only there in the left hand corner. I know how to do that, but I will have to find the exact color as what I used on the background. It's proving very frustrating. Please don't let this bother you if the background doesn't look good yet...I'm getting there!