Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Something Like Normal by Trish Doller is a book that intrigued me since I first heard of it. I liked the idea of a book that shows soldiers returning from war dealing with the aftermath. Then I read Trish Doller's post during Marchetta Madness and became even more interested. Synopsis (from Goodreads): When Travis returns home from a stint in Afghanistan, his parents are splitting up, his brother’s stolen his girlfriend and his car, and he’s haunted by nightmares of his best friend’s death. It’s not until Travis runs into Harper, a girl he’s had a rocky relationship with since middle school, that life actually starts looking up. And as he and Harper see more of each other, he begins to pick his way through the minefield of family problems and post-traumatic stress to the possibility of a life that might resemble normal again. Travis’s dry sense of humor, and incredible sense of honor, make him an irresistible and eminently lovable hero. I have to say that for the f...

A couple weeks ago Kelly Jensen from Stacked started an interesting discussion on Twitter about how we use the word "unlikeable" when describing characters and what we really mean by it. This is something Kelly has explored before in things she's written ( here and here ) as particularly regards female characters. This discussion promoted a thoughtful response from Liz at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy in which she said everything I basically wanted to say on the subject. Particularly, think about your reasons for not liking character. From Liz's post: " And that’s when “like” is about more than the character and the book: when it’s really about “not liking” rather than liking, and it’s about the character not doing what the reader wants when they want it... What confuses me about some of this is that often, there would be no reason for the book — no plot — if the character did the “right” thing from page 1. Or, that the character is dealing with some ...

If you look back to posts from earlier this year, Exit Pursued By a Bear  is on the one of 2016 releases I was most anticipating. I pre-ordered it because it is E.K. Johnston. I pre-ordered it from my local bookstore so I could pick it up on its release day. Why is it a whole month later that the review is finally up? Because for a long time all I could do was look at it and long to read it. I knew that it was a story about a girl who was raped, and that's one of a few subjects I almost never pick up books about. I couldn't not read this book though. It's a reworking of Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale. I read enough of Johnston's press surrounding the release to also know that is is about friendship and choice and life. I have come to expect excellent and thoughtfulness from Johnston's writing, and she delivered with both of those again. Hermione Winters attends her last cheer camp excited about the year to come. She is a captain. She is flyer. Her team is...

I actually never read a synopsis for The Real Boy by Anne Ursu. I knew she wrote it and I liked Breadcrumbs ( my thoughts ) and that was all I needed. When I saw it was available on Edelweiss I immediately requested it and was thrilled to be approved. I had expectations in my head based on the title. And the book was something else entirely. Something wonderful Synopsis (from Goodreads): On an island at the edge of an immense sea there is a city, a forest, and a boy. The city is called Asteri, a perfect city that was saved by the magic woven into its walls from a devastating plague that swept through the world over a hundred years before. The forest is called the Barrow, a vast wood of ancient trees that encircles the city and feeds the earth with magic. And the boy is called Oscar, a shop boy for the most powerful magician in the Barrow. Oscar spends his days in a small room in the dark cellar of his master's shop grinding herbs and dreaming of the wizards who once ...

Post originally published on my livejournal in Sept 2010 A very interesting post about female characters came up in sounis  .  That is when I decided to write a post about my favorite all time heroines.  I will limit myself to describing the whos and whys of my five favorites and then add a list of honorable mentions. I have linked each name either to their corresponding book on Goodreads or to my review of the book.  They are arranged in age from youngest to oldest because other than telling you they are my favorites I don’t think I could rank them in any kind of order.  Irene Attolia is definitely my top choice but beyond that I just couldn’t decide.  Aravis Tarkheena “And what business is it of yours if I am only a girl?  You’re probably only a boy:  a rude, common little boy –a slave probably, who’s stolen his master’s horse.” Aravis is hands down the best of the Narnian heroines.  Maybe I feel this way because she i...

From the moment I discovered what Something Real by Heather Demetrios was about, I wanted to read it. I am not a fan of reality TV shows that follow families around and document their lives, partly because I just feel like the worst sort of voyeur, but mainly because I feel it is an exploitation of the children involved who have no real choice or agency in what is going on. A book that explores this sounded fascinating. I was also a little hesitant because the synopsis made me think it could go places that I was uncomfortable with. The book did make me uncomfortable, but for all the right reasons and it is truly an excellent novel. Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Bonnie™ Baker has grown up on TV—she and her twelve siblings are the stars of one-time hit reality show  Baker’s Dozen . Since the show's cancellation, Bonnie™ has tried to live a normal life, under the radar and out of the spotlight. But it's about to fall apart . . . because  Baker’s Dozen ...

2012 is shaping up to be one of the best years for reading ever. I have read so many amazing books  and fallen in love with so many wonderful characters. And it's only half done. Doing the end of the year Top 10 is going to be SO HARD. Fortunately, for the mid-year round up I don't confine myself to just 10 books. Titles linked to my reviews and listed in the order in which I read them: Winterling by Sarah Prineas The Fault in Our Stars by John Green Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley Swift by R.J. Anderson Peaceweaver by Rebecca Barnhouse* Renegade Magic by Stephanie Burgis The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate The Wicked and the Just by J. Anderson Coats Wonder by R.J. Palachio The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen Crow by Barbara Wright Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein* Something Like Normal by Trish Doller The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (releases 7/10; my review will post 7/3) Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jone...

Trish Doller writes books that tackle tough subjects. This makes them not easy to read, but she writes the stories with such heart and passion it is worth it. Where the Stars Still Shine is one of the hardest books I've read in a long while. Synopsis: Stolen as a child from her large and loving family, and on the run with her mom for more than ten years, Callie has only the barest idea of what normal life might be like. She's never had a home, never gone to school, and has gotten most of her meals from laundromat vending machines. Her dreams are haunted by memories she’d like to forget completely. But when Callie’s mom is finally arrested for kidnapping her, and Callie’s real dad whisks her back to what would have been her life, in a small town in Florida, Callie must find a way to leave the past behind. She must learn to be part of a family. And she must believe that love—even with someone who seems an improbable choice—is more than just a possibility. Callie d...

I was intrigued by The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney because it a) had a pretty cover and b) was about a girl who survived a horrific fey attack. I was wary of The Iron Witch because I knew it contained a) two guys in the girl's life and b) alchemists. While this certainly isn't one of my favorite books I didn't end up hating it. The writing didn't work for me but I didn't have the problems with it I thought I was going to have. Summary (from Goodreads ): Freak. That's what her classmates call seventeen-year-old Donna Underwood. When she was seven, a horrific fey attack killed her father and drove her mother mad. Donna's own nearly fatal injuries from the assault were fixed by magic—the iron tattoos branding her hands and arms. The child of alchemists, Donna feels cursed by the magical heritage that destroyed her parents and any chance she had for a normal life. The only thing that keeps her sane and grounded is her relationship with her best friend...

Lindsey Leavitt is an auto-buy author for me. If she writes it, I will read it. No one does quite what she does in the realm of contemporary fiction, writing realistic stories that deal with hard issues but manage to maintain a lighter tone and feel. The Chapel Wars  tackles some harder topics than her previous work, but is still a light quick read and is full of the little snatches of wisdom I have come to appreciate in her books. She is eminently quotable. This review is of an ARC received from the publisher in exchange for a fair review. Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Holly wants to remember her Grandpa forever, but she’d rather forget what he left her in his will: his wedding chapel on the Las Vegas strip. Whatever happened to gold watches, savings bonds, or some normal inheritance? And then there's Grandpa's letter. Not only is she running the business with her recently divorced parents, but she needs to make some serious money--fast. Grandpa also insists Holly reach out ...

Usually it doesn't. I'm a person who thrives on routine and schedules. I have a system for reading and keeping up with my review copies and it fits neatly into my life. My life as normal with the normal stress that arises from day to day living. I am not experiencing that kind of stress right now. Any time the stress level of my life goes beyond normal I have several ways of coping: rereading old favorites, reading adult romance novels, organizing things, taking a couple days off reading completely to just spend time in my own head. Usually it doesn't take long for me to blow off the steam from whatever is stressing me out so there isn't really a noticeable affect on the blog. I am not experiencing that kind of stress right now. What sort of stress am I experiencing? The stress of MOVING. I know anyone who has done this before will understand. This is a whole other level of stress. It is amplified when it is you responsible times three. Here's what I'm...

"Once upon a time, a demonlike creature with a forty-seven-syllable name made an enchanted mirror. The mirror shattered in the sky. The splinters took to the wind and scattered for hundreds of miles. When they fell to the earth, things began to change....A boy got a splinter in his eye, and his heart turned cold. Only two people noticed. One was a witch, and she took him for her own. The other was his best friend. And she went after him in ill-considered shoes, brave and completely unprepared." (p153,155) Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu is a retelling of "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Anderson, yes, but it might be more fitting to say this is an homage to all of Anderson's tales because there are a great many of them incorporated into this one. The heart of  the story is "The Snow Queen" though, or rather, what it symbolizes. Growing up, changing, leaving old friends behind, and discovering who one is as a person. Hazel and Jack have been best friends ...

Omega City  is Diana Peterfreund's first MG novel. Billed on Goodreads as City of Ember  meets The Goonies , my expectations were pretty high. The Goonies  is one of my all time favorite movies. And this book delivered on that promise. Big time. Gillian's father is in disgrace. He wrote a book about famous scientist Aloysius Underberg that was immediately discredited and that he couldn't back up because a broken pipe destroyed all of his research. Now the only job he has is teaching conspiracy theory nights. When Gillian discovers mysterious files on his new girlfriend's computer that have too much to do with her father's research, she knows something is terribly wrong and she begins to attempt to solve an old code that Underberg left behind. With the help of her brother, Eric, her best friend, Savannah, and an astronomy obsessed classmate named Howard, they figure out where Underberg buried his final gift to humanity. They magnate to convince Howard's older b...

Early evidence indicates that 2015 will be a good year for realistic MG. I'm hoping. Honey  by Sarah Weeks is certainly an excellent indication of things to come. Melody is fairly happy with her life the way it is. She has security and knows her father loves her. Melody's mother died in childbirth, and the one things she wishes she could add to her family is a mom for her and a wife for her dad. She has wished it on too many birthdays to count. When her dad begins singing, smiling secretly to himself, and becomes more absent minded than normal, Melody knows something is up. Then she overhears him call someone "honey" on the phone and realizes he must be in love. Melody is thrilled until she starts to think about all the reasons her father has kept this from her. Is it because he's fallen for someone he knows she won't like? Someone like her awful hateful teacher? Melody and her best friend embark on an investigation that leads to more discoveries than Melody...

I am still making my way through Diana Wynne Jones's backlist. I probably wouldn't have read The Homeward Bounders  for a long time to come as it's currently out of print in the the US (except as an e-book) if it weren't for a conversation on Twitter I had with Sage Blackwood in which she said she heard some consider it to be a metaphor for life as a military kid. My interest level rose exponentially and she was kind enough to send me an old used library copy to read. (Much thanks for that.) This book, like all of Jones's books, has had many covers. I'm using the latest UK cover because I really like these covers for her books. Synopsis: "You are now a discard. We have no further use for you in play. You are free to walk the Bounds, but it will be against the rules for you to enter play in any world. If you succeed in returning Home, then you may enter play again in the normal manner." When Jamie unwittingly discovers the scary, dark-cloaked Th...

 In the acknowledgements for her book My Very UnFairytale Life Anna Staniszewski describes it as her "wacky little book". It is indeed a whacky little book but in a way that is fun and not too ridiculous especially if you are of the age of the intended audience. Elementary school me would have loved this book with a fervent and fierce devotion. You know all those stories that have fairy godmothers coming into change the lives of ordinary girls? Well this is that in reverse. Jenny is an ordinary girl sent to help change the lives of magical creatures. Instead of being armed with a magic wand, Jenny relies on a repertoire of cheesy cliches to make a difference. Sure sometimes baby dragons try to burn her head off and unicorns charge after her, but that's all part of the fun. Except Jenny is not having much fun. She is in middle school and she wants a life and normal friends. Instead she gets a candy addict gnome guide and an old adventurer who keeps an eye on her. When f...