Books that I have on my shelves

Okay, so if you're anything at all like me, you have approximately 30 billion books on your shelves that you haven't read, and at least 1 billion of those you probably never will read, but I just thought I would tell you what book I have on my shelves that are begging to be read, that way if I never get around to it, they will at least get a little nod here. So here they are:
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Marberry
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness
Gone by Michael Grant
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
The Other Side of Dark by Sarah Smith
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeiffer
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
White Cat by Holly Black
Caught Between the Pages by Marlene Carvell
Five Flavors of Dumb by Anthony John
Night by Elie Weisel
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
The Girl who Loved to Run by GP Schultz
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larsson
Cujo by Stephen King
Blaze by Stephen King
3 of the 4 Bachman Books by Stephen King
Nightmares and Dreamscapes by Stephen King
A Farewell to Arms by Earnest Hemingway
Everyman by Philip Roth
Blackbox by Nick Walker

Phew! That's a lot of books. So, you ask, why aren't you reading right now?
Because, silly blog reader, I am the world's most ridiculous procrastinator! Don't question me!

The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan

How to describe this book...
It's about a bunch of people.
Who go to the same school. And they talk about stuff. So much is covered in this book, such as eating disorders, boys who feel the need to be big and strong, sex, homosexuality, and all that jazz. There are 20 different voices, one for each 'chapter'. Basically, the reason this gets such a low rating is that the characters would each talk for about ten pages (which, in verse, isn't very much.) and then it would move on to the next character without me having any attachment to the character at all. Honestly, you don't have much of an emotional connection with any of the characters by the end of the book. Really, the only character names I even remember out of the 20+ are Jed, Daniel, and Pete. That's not a very good ratio. That's because I didn't care about any of the characters at all - the three mentioned were just in the book more often, so I remembered their names.
I thought after reading Will Grayson squared, I would see how this author functioned on his own, and I will try another of his books because I really want to read Love is the Higher Law because of its subject matter, but I now see that John Green is the force that pushed WGWG to the awesomeness that it is. Not Levithan.
So right now, I'm lowering my eyebrows in a suspicious glare at David Levithan. We'll see how I feel about him in a little while, after I've read more of his work.
2/5*

International Covers #2 I Am Number Four

'Murica.

France.

Germany

Italy

Portugal.

They're all pretty cool, IMO. Which do you like best?

International Covers #1 The Hunger Games

America

Dutch

Chinese.

Danish

German

Greek

Russian


Personally, I like the American and Chinese versions best. I hate the Russian cover.

Triangles by Ellen Hopkins

From Goodreads:
In this emotionally powerful novel, three women face the age-old midlife question: If I’m halfway to death, is this all I’ve got to show for it? Holly, filled with regret for being a stay-at-home mom, sheds sixty pounds and loses herself in the world of extramarital sex. Andrea, a single mom and avowed celibate, watches her friend Holly’s meltdown with a mixture of concern and contempt. Holly is throwing away what Andrea has spent her whole life searching for—a committed relationship with a decent guy. So what if Andrea picks up Holly’s castaway husband? Then there’s Marissa. She has more than her fair share of challenges—a gay teenage son, a terminally ill daughter, and a husband who buries himself in his work rather than face the facts. As one woman’s marriage unravels, another one’s rekindles. As one woman’s family comes apart at the seams, another’s is reconfigured into something bigger and better. In this story of connections and disconnections, one woman’s up is another one’s down, and all three of them will learn the meaning of friendship, betrayal, and forgiveness before it is through.

My Review:
How to describe this book? It's very good. I don't know why, but when I picked this one up, I was expecting to not like it as much as Hopkins' other books. I had read a review on Goodreads that said people under thirty wouldn't understand it. I would have to disagree with that; being a seventeen-year-old male (and having read a somewhat extensive amount of adult fiction for my age) I understood it fine. I don't think age is everything in liking this one or not.

Also, there's the issue of will I like this if I am not a woman? And I would say...maybe. I personally loved it, and I am a heterosexual male. However, I would say that it's more likely that I am the exception and not the rule, not that you shouldn't still try this one.

As for the story itself, it was pretty much flawless. Ellen has a way of creating stories that show the underbelly of the everyday in such an interesting way that I absolutely adore. However, the one problem that I had with it was that I knew what the big ending was going to be when I was less than twenty pages in. Predictability can really hurt a book.

Still, the book was intriguing, sad, and well-written--Although it's an adult book, you can still feel Ellen Hopkins in it.

The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

Wow. Wow. I loved TFOHAT, but not so much The Dead-Tossed Waves. And then...there's The Dark and Hollow Places.
That just blew my mind.
It's not so much about running from zombies. The zombies aren't so much the evil ones in this book. I mean, they're definitely a problem, but they aren't the ones we're worried about for most of the book. It's the recruiters...this book just really shows you how hideous people can be.
It's by far the best zombie book I've ever read. It's also the darkest book in the entire series, and my favorite of the trilogy.
If you are hesitant after The Dead-Tossed Waves, go ahead. This one's incredible.
People say quite a bit in their reviews that they hope for a fourth book. No. God no. Don't make a trilogy longer. That's one of the worst things, in my opinion, a writer can do. If you don't write one that's equally good if not better, then you're just going to piss off a lot of people *cough cough The Mortal Instruments*
And really, where would she go with this one? I loved the open ending.
5/5*

An Interview with Ellen Hopkins!

Recently, one of my favorite authors, Ellen Hopkins, made my life by agreeing to do a web interview with me. Now, the interview is ready to show to you all. Enjoy!

ATR: Starting off, your  books are unique because they are written in verse. Do you think that this gains  or loses potential readers? What was it that first inspired you to write in  verse?

EH: I think it works both ways. The verse appeals to readers who don't like thick blocks of text, but other readers like it, too, at least once they get used to it. People who have decided they hate anything that even resembles poetry are probably turned off by it. Again, though, if they'd just dive in and read my books for STORY, I think they'd like them.

 

ATR: Of all of your books,  which was your favorite to write? Which was the hardest to  write?

EH: My favorite to write was probably IDENTICAL, because of the plot twists and reflections on what is alike/not alike about twins. The hardest was probably GLASS, because it recounts the deepest part of "Kristina's" addiction, and was very hard to relive.

 

ATR: Lately,  I have noticed that you have been planning more books than ever. I mean, Perfect, Triangles, Tilt, Collateral, and Smoke (Although I’m not  positive that last one is confirmed.) What has to be done before you can let the  public know that you are writing a new book?

EH: At this point in my career, content is pretty much up to me. So once I'm sure in my own mind of what I'm writing when, I let people know. And, yes, SMOKE (the sequel to BURNED) is slated to be the 2013 YA.

 

ATR: You have  said on your website that you never planned for your books to have sequels when  you were writing them. At what point do you decide that a sequel would work for  a certain book?

EH: Usually it's when I get so many requests for more of a story that I just can't NOT do a sequel. I won't, however, be doing any more CRANK books. I feel like I've exhausted Kristina's story, or maybe just exhausted myself from writing it.

 

ATR: I found  it really cool how, in Perfect, the  characters run into Connor and we get to see the meeting that we saw in Impulse from a different point of view.  What I wondered while reading this was, how often did you have to refer to Impulse while outlining/writing Perfect to make the confrontations  exact?

EH: Oh, many times, all the way through. My editor was really great about referencing IMPULSE, too, and she picked up something that most readers probably wouldn't have, but we wanted it right. Namely, I mentioned President Obama in PERFECT and she pointed out that he wasn't president, or even on most people's radar, when IMPULSE published in January 2007. IMPULSE has definite references to things like the Patriot Act, which date it fairly solidly in the George W. Bush era.

 

ATR: This  week, you will release your first adult book, Triangles . After writing such highly  praised YA books, do you worry that it will be hard to get adult’s  approval?

EH: Well, a lot of my readers have "grown up" with my books, so to speak. Someone who was 16 or 17 when CRANK published in 2004 is in his/her twenties now. And they've shared my books with other adults--parents, teachers, etc. So to a point I have a built-in adult readership. I'm hopeful that bloggers will help me grow that readership even more.

 

ATR: What would you say if  a teen asked you if they should read Triangles ?

EH: I'd say it depends on the maturity level of the teen. When I was a teen, we didn't have much YA to speak of, and I was definitely reading books with mature subject matter--as mature as what you'll find in TRIANGLES. It didn't damage me! But there are definitely some very steamy sex scenes in TRIANGLES. If a teen is mature enough to handle those, I think the story, even with adult protagonists, will interest him/her.

 

ATR: Tilt is your upcoming YA  companion novel to Triangles . How are  the two novels related to each other?

EH: The three main characters in TRIANGLES have teens, and these kids have stories of their own. The books begin at the same time, but TILT moves quite a bit past where TRIANGLES leaves off and, at the heart, is about how a death in both books affects the three TILT protagonists, making them assess their own lives. It touches on falling in love with someone with HIV, teen pregnancy, and losing oneself in an abusive and unproductive relationship.

 

ATR: What  words would you give to young aspiring writers?

EH: Read voraciously, and write the same way. Be observers--no, voyeurs. And be patient. Every day enrichens your life, and also your writing.

 

About  You

 

ATR: If you could go  anywhere on the planet, where would you go?

EH: That's a hard question, because I've been many beautiful places, and would like to return to them. But I'd also like to see someplace I've never seen. Maybe Costa Rica, which is on my Bucket List.

 

ATR: Do you  ever take a break? What do you like to do when you aren’t  writing?

EH: When I'm home (as opposed to many travel days, doing promotion, conferences, etc.), I take many small breaks during each day to enjoy my beautiful home and spend time with family and friends. We also ski, hike, bike, etc. 

 

ATR: How long, on average,  do you write in a day?

EH: Good days for me, and there are many, include six to eight hours writing. But even when I'm busy with other stuff, I try to write at least an hour or two every day.

 

ATR: I’ll  leave you with this question: if you could describe happiness in five words,  what would they be?

EH: Home. Family. Friends. German Shepherds.

Thank you, Ellen, for agreeing to do an interview with me. I wish you luck with your writing career, and I can't wait to read your future books!

Ellen's Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_tc_2_0?rh=i%3Astripbooks%2Ck%3AEllen+Hopkins&keywords=Ellen+Hopkins&ie=UTF8&qid=1318725591&sr=8-2-ent&field-contributor_id=B001H6OOSA

Ellen's Website: http://www.ellenhopkins.com/