In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be "positive" all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people.
For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F**k positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let’s be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Mason doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected American society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up.
Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited—"not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault." Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek.
There are only so many things we can give a f**k about so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.
REVIEW
This book is addictive, no - it is like that kid in school you wanted to be but would not openly associate with. We're talking about the kid who would bluntly echo all of the things you wanted to say, but were too afraid to even think, out loud. Or that teacher you loved to hate, who didn't bother pretending to be on your side ("you're not special, and no, your problems are never going away"); but who actually was on your side, as she grounded you and cut through, rather than worked around your bullshit.
I'm wary of self-help literature and its contribution to "pop" psychology. This book though, is a wonderful piece of experiential wisdom. It utilizes the inception of solid psychological (drawing inspiration from the seeds of terror management theory) and philosophical gems, and combats more sensationalized, misinterpreted assumptions emblazoned in self-help literature (like self-esteem being the motivator to great performance (not really, not when all it breeds is entitlement), or "positive thinking" being the end-game, rather than working through the negative to emerge at the positive). It was the fire I needed to quit settling, and remember what excited, and energized me; over what I end up doing to "get by".
Read it, if you are at the crux of some major life decisions, or you are running out of reasons to keep doing what you are doing. The Subtle Art does not pretend to give you any concrete suggestions, but it is that tequila shot you need to relieve you of the debilitating anxiety that near-cripples you, and get you dancing towards a much larger, much more important purpose.
Publication date: May 6th, 2014 Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks Links:Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository Stars: 5/5 Source: Review copy (Thank you, William Morrow!)
Internationally bestselling author Cecelia Ahern delivers her biggest and most compelling book yet—a tale of secrets, second chances, and the hidden connections that unite our lives
Scandal has derailed journalist Kitty Logan's career, a setback that is soon compounded by an even more devastating loss. Constance, the woman who taught Kitty everything she knew, is dying. At her mentor's bedside, Kitty asks her, "What is the one story you always wanted to write?"
The answer lies in a single sheet of paper buried in Constance's office—a list of one hundred names—with no notes or explanation. But before Kitty can ask her friend, it is too late.
Determined to unlock the mystery and rebuild her own shaky confidence, Kitty throws herself into the investigation, tracking down each of the names on the list and uncovering their connection. Meeting these ordinary people and learning their stories, Kitty begins to piece together an unexpected portrait of Constance's life... and starts to understand her own.
REVIEW
I give this book five, very subjective stars. I'm not quite sure if I would've given it five stars if I'd read it way back in January, when I received it for review... or even a bit later, when in the midst of finals. But then again, is there any such thing as an objective rating? That being said, I read One Hundred Names when I needed to read it the most.
One Hundred Names opens in a hospital, where Kitty Logan asks her dying mentor, Constance Dubois, about the one story she's always wished to write. It's a difficult time for Kitty as well. She made an error in one of her stories, the scandalous kind, that caused her a suspension from her job as a TV-journalist and set her network back big time. It's a mistake that may forever ruin her career. She's hanging on to her other job at Etcetera magazine, however unrelated to the TV scandal, by a thread.
Constance asks her to retrieve a list of one hundred names-- a list that had something to do with the story she had in mind. Before Kitty can get back with the list, Constance passes away. As a part of her tribute issue, Kitty needs to find out what connects these people; the very nature of the story Constance wanted to write. There isn't much time to piece it all together... it's ONE HUNDRED different people, and lives, she'll have to delve into... and her job might just depend on it.
I can definitely picture this book being made into a movie. It would be one of those romcoms with a slightly quirkier twist, and dialogues that are meaningful and sometimes even funny. The plot might seem a bit contrived: the way most plots involving a large cast are. It features six very different, very dreamy, "ordinary" but interesting people... people who, like in most books that have several subplots, gradually find their stories intermingling when they are thrown in a common setting.
Reading One Hundred Names, however, felt far from contrived. I've always admired the earnestness in Cecelia Ahern's writing. I'm glad she doesn't stick to the same formula. Instead, she always tells us different kinds of stories that take on different perspectives; retaining the freshness in her narration. In this book, it's the earnestness of the main players that gets to you. It's easy to picture them living their lives, one day at a time.
Kitty attempts to uncover what Constance could've possibly wanted to write about them- practically drilling various angles into their lives... and as the arc finally dawns on her- it humbles her, and the reader. It's not something you couldn't have guessed several chapters before. In fact, I think it was pretty clear from the beginning. Still, it's beautiful because it's something all of us take for granted but is very very true.
One Hundred Names, through wonderful characterization, several humorous and WTF moments, is one heck of a journey! Before you know it, you are a part of their lives: laughing, groaning, whooping and cheering them on! Their energy is your energy. It reminds you of the value of a genuine and positive story; how wasteful it is that we are constantly on the lookout for superficiality, drama, a "dark" past and conflict instead. It encourages you to look beyond the surface, at what is already around and within you.
Witty, sarcastic Ethan and his three friends decide to take down the reality TV show, For Art's Sake, that is being filmed at their high school, the esteemed Selwyn Arts Academy, where each student is more talented than the next. While studying Ezra Pound in English class, the friends are inspired to write a vigilante long poem and distribute it to the student body, detailing the evils of For Art's Sake. But then Luke—the creative force behind the poem and leader of the anti-show movement—becomes a contestant on the nefarious show. It's up to Ethan, his two remaining best friends, and a heroic gerbil named Baconnaise to save their school. Along the way, they'll discover a web of secrets and corruption involving the principal, vice principal, and even their favorite teacher.
REVIEW
The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy has got to be the most enjoyable Young Adult book I've read in a while! I read this book way back in January, and if I hadn't been on an unofficial-hiatus I would've reviewed it right away. A lot of "reality show" based books end up wearing thin, but not this one.
The Vigilante Poets...(don't you love the title?) is about Ethan Andrezejczak who is witty, sarcastic, perfectly likable and hung up on ballerina Maura, the poster girl for Unattainable. Throw in a reality show their artsy unconventional school is the center of, an inspiring English teacher who introduces them to Ezra Pound's Cantos, the realisation that the show is ruining everything their school stands for and a creative rebellion is underway. There's plenty of genuine wit, solid characters, betrayals, a gerbil you will dote on and anti-climatic romantic twists to make this story epic and memorable.
The best part? The ride is smooth. The writing is both charming and intelligent; and at no point does the plot pause. At no point are there Reflections or a pointless elaboration of angst. What we get of the show and the anti-show-movement are mere commercial-break-infused snippets. What we get of the characters, whether it's Ethan and his friends, his adorable twin sisters or even the elusive Maura, is brilliant. They grow on you, they fill you in on insights about themselves that surprise you just as much; but they never pause on it!
This book is a smart, snappy, insightful and colourful laugh-riot that reminds you of, but surpasses by a landslide, TV shows like Glee. A work of art by itself that gets the fun-insightful ratio just right, I highly recommend giving this book a shot.
It's about how one secret act of violence changes everything--how best friends can desert you when you need them most, how nobody understands. It's about the drinking and stealing and lying and wondering who you can trust. It's about parents and teachers, police officers and counselors--all the people who are supposed to help you, but who may not even believe you.
It's about how suddenly all of your hopes and dreams can vanish, and you can find yourself all alone, with nothing and no one. Your only choice is to end it all or to start over... and all you can think is Maybe I Will.
Author Laurie Gray presents a compelling picture of the realities of sexual assault in Maybe I Will, drawing on her years of experience as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, dealing with crimes against children. The twist in the story is that we never know for sure if the victim is a boy or a girl, and we realize that it doesn't matter, because it's not about sex.
REVIEW
I found myself thinking about this six-word paragraph I read in Anthem: "I am. I think. I will." The words were so powerful, but they kept turning into questions in my mind. I am. Who am I? I think. What do I think? I will. I will what? Maybe I will, but maybe I won't. Maybe I will, but maybe I don't. Maybe I don't will anything. Maybe it all happens regardless of my will.
In case you didn't get the drift from the above quote alone, Maybe I Will is powerful. It's intense and devastating, in part, because of the tragedy that befalls the protagonist and for the most part, because of the way it is written itself.
We do not know much about Sandy in the beginning. We do not know his(/her) gender, for instance. Sandy's parents intended to name the main character Sandy, short for Sandford or Sandra. What was it finally short for? We do not know. At the same time, we know that Sandy is a powerhouse of amazing on stage. That Sandy is a sophomore who takes high school seriously... seriously enough to think hard over his/her assignments anyway. We also know that Sandy really hits it off with a co-actor in the Peter Pan play; Shanika Washington. That Sandy loves the Bard, quotes Shakespeare in a way that is infectious and watches Hamlet for fun. That Sandy seems to have loving and caring parents and good enough friends. That Sandy is incredibly, inspiringly and realistically resilient. So. Do we know Sandy after all?
Despite not knowing Sandy's sex or sexual orientation... constructs that seem to be enough to characterise most Young Adult protagonists these days... don't we know Sandy? Irrespective of the exclusion of Sandy's gender from the story which would've probably influenced our thoughts of Sandy as either "sensitive" or "angsty" depending on whether Sandy was male or female... or as gay or straight... we know Sandy. In fact, we know more of Sandy, now that the labels have been tucked away from our line of vision.
Then, at the central point of the story comes the act of violence that you anticipate and yet barely see coming... the consequences on Sandy's esteem, health and social life shock you. Sandy is sexually assaulted... there is no other word for it... or is there? Because just like the other carefully label-excluded aspects of the story, the incident, despite being crude and aggressive and violating, is clearly not about sex.
The assault makes Sandy feel violated and vulnerable and friendless... reduced to a shell. Redefining Sandy; as he/she questions things that were once taken for granted.
At different points of the story, two labels are attributed to Sandy by others: rich and kid which made me go... heh. It was surprising how starkly these labels stood out from the rest of the novel. It was gratifying how these labels never stuck to Sandy.
Maybe I Will blew.me.away.It figuratively shattered me into tiny pieces as I felt like I was witness to a shock, slow breakdown and at the same time, incredible efforts to regain sense of self in the wake of a nightmare. It made me question our natural tendency to gender type due to the total absence of gender typing in the book. It made me reevaluate my feelings towards sexual assault... making me realise that it wasn't about how far the perpetrator got or how physically bruised the person was at all because it's not about sex. It never was.
In case you're wondering, I started off picturing Sandy as a girl (it must have something to do with the abundance of female protagonists in Young Adult fiction) and then, when I realised the sex was never mentioned, tried imagining Sandy as a boy... and gradually, after switching back and forth a few times, I ended up reading Sandy as... Sandy. That made for a very liberating and different experience! Maybe I Will has been compared to Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and while it is definitely recommended for those who read and loved Speak, I think this novel stands on its own in terms of the barriers it breaks and the way it picks apart the assault; zeroing in on the core of what it really was.
Rating: ★★★★★
-
Welcome to Novel Publicity's latest publishing house blog tour. Join us as two new titles from Luminis Books--we're calling them the Luminis Duo--tour the blogosphere in a way that just can't be ignored. And, hey, we've got prizes!
About the author:
Laurie Gray has worked as a high school teacher, a deputy prosecuting attorney, and the founder of Socratic Parenting LLC (www.SocraticParenting.com). In addition to writing, speaking and consulting, Laurie currently works as a bilingual child forensic interviewer at her local Child Advocacy Center and as an adjunct professor of criminal sciences at Indiana Tech. She has served on the faculty of the National Symposium for Child Abuse in Huntsville, Alabama, annually since 2009. Her debut novel Summer Sanctuary (Luminis Books/2010) received a Moon Beam Gold Medal for excellence in young adult fiction and was named a 2011 Indiana Best Book Finalist. Her third young adult novel Just Myrto (Luminis Books/2014) will carry readers back to ancient Greece to meet Socrates, Laurie’s favorite teacher of all times. Connect with Laurie on her website, Facebook, or GoodReads.
About the prizes:
Who doesn't love prizes? You could win either of two $25 Amazon gift cards, an autographed copy of Maybe I Will by Laurie Gray Aloha, Mozart by Waimea Williams, or an autographed copy of its tour mate, Aloha, Mozart by Waimea Williams. Here's what you need to do...
Enter the Rafflecopter contest
Leave a comment on my blog.
That's it! One random commenter during this tour will win a $25 gift card. Visit more blogs for more chances to win--the full list of participating bloggers can be found here. The other $25 gift card and the 3 autographed books will be given out via Rafflecopter. You can find the contest entry form linked below or on the official Luminis Duo tour page via Novel Publicity. Good luck!
Luminis Books was launched in January, 2010 by husband and wife team Tracy Richardson and Chris Katsaropoulos with a mission to publish thought-provoking literary fiction for children and adults. We publish what we love: Meaningful Books That Entertain. Our award-winning books engage and inform readers and explore a wide range of topics from love and relationships, teen sexual assault and homelessness to string theory, consciousness, and the Universal Energy Field. Luminis Books is a proudly independent publisher located in Carmel, IN. Learn more at www.luminisbooks.com.
The best way to beat the heat: curling up with a laid back summer read! My picks for the summer are usually cutesy and a little predictable but this year I also got to catch up with some really wholesome and entertaining books that have been in my to-read list since forever! I figured I'd do a separate post for each of the books I loved reading this summer and that's where my new feature, Summer Readin'! comes in.
My first pick: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell which I read afterEleanor & Park by the same author. Given that Attachments is centered around a whole different demographic and had the whole rom-com movie vibe, it couldn't be more different from Eleanor & Park. I didn't think it would be possible but here's the thing- I loved it even more than E&P.
The protagonist, Lincoln, has way too many college degrees but hasn't really gotten anywhere with it. He's still living with his mom, nursing a heartbreak and hasn't a real clue about how to move forward. And what more, he gets a job in a newspaper office where he gets paid to monitor people's work email and in the process, falls for Beth whom he hasn't even seen before. All he knows about her are from the emails he reads that land in his security filter; banter between Beth and her best friend Jennifer that's far from work-related.
Set when the whole Y2K speculation was happening with the cutest movie and pop culture references, I adored this book. I loved that Beth was a movie reviewer by profession and was someone you'd want to be friends with. I could see why Lincoln was instantly attracted to her- just by reading her email. She's the kind of witty entertaining character with real quirks that's usually the fun sidekick, so I really really liked that she was the girl Lincoln fell for! There's even this part when she says she sounds soo much better on paper than in person and I could totally relate to that!
As for Lincoln, he was a steadfast, solid person I would've rooted for right in the beginning. We were privy of almost every aspect of his world- from his mom who means well but is probably too overprotective, his sister and his Dungeons and Dragons friends. When he wrangled with the ethics and dilemma he faced over reading someone else's email (even if that was his job), it was completely realistic. What I loved most was that we also got to see him through Beth's eyes in her emails! And it's funny how a fresh perspective can really bring out characteristics that you take for granted in someone.
Another thing about the book that had me positively squealing was that it handled the concept of love BEFORE first sight in the most believable and breathtaking way! Even the most unromantic person is bound to be taken in by the heart stopping sweetness of the way they fall for each other.
Attachments was fresh, funny, smart and incredibly gripping! I adored this book from start to finish. I loved how it was wholesome yet light at the same time and grounded yet swoony! It had the elements that are present in practically every rom-com movie I'm crazy about. And at the end of it, I think that's what Attachments felt like to me: a rom-com with the depth and breadth of a book!
If you’re not true to yourself, why should anyone else be?
In her second year of high school Rose Zarelli is determined to become Rose 2.0 - as in, innovative...superior...improved.
Improved how? Well, Rose is setting some ground rules. This year she absolutely most definitely will NOT:
1) do things just because other people want her to
2) randomly shoot her mouth off
3) worry about whether she’s someone’s girlfriend—or not.
And most important of all she determined to tell off Jamie Forta, the boy who might just have broken her heart, once and for all and move on.
After all she’s older and smarter now. She can totally pull this off.
How hard can it be? Right? Right?
REVIEW
It's 3AM and my mind is reeling as in the past few hours, I have chuckled, smiled and cried into the early morning hours reading this beautiful gift for teens. I vaguely recall the numerous teen reads that filled my bookshelf when I was still in high school and NONE of them match up to the complexity and depth with which Confessions of An Almost-Girlfriend explores various issues that grapple us at the age of sixteen.
Confessions of An Almost-Girlfriend is the second part of the Confessions series, so if you're reading this review and haven't read the previous book, you would probably want to look up the first part.
The second Confessions book turns up the angst, conflict and confusion a notch which I thought would be impossible. The first book was an angry emotional rollercoaster on its own! Here, Rose struggles even more with standing out versus blending in, taking a stand versus staying away, figuring herself out and figuring others out. She finds it impossible to stay away from her grief over her father's passing away one and a half years ago as that's the only way she finds herself holding on to him. She struggles with trying to understand her mother's feelings as she wants Rose to shut down the memorial website she made for her father and cannot understand Jamie, the boy she adores, who is tapping at her window one minute and telling her they will not work out the next second.
Rose wonders if she's cut out for anything as her friends seem to blossom and shine around her. At the same time, she doesn't know what to do with compliments, always second guessing them and doubting herself. I felt so involved as she struggled and came closer and closer to facing up to who she was and accepting herself for it. A lot of things were beyond her control and a lot of decisions slipped out of her reach and that only added to the realism of the plot.
On the surface, Confessions has all the elements any teen series would have: cheerleaders, best friend problems, hook ups, break ups, crushes, bullying, mean girls and partying. What makes this series so much more intense is the layers with which various social issues that involve teens are explored; from identity to tolerance.
What more, there is so much more to these characters than what high school stereotype they fall under or the clique they belong too. There's a flicker of humanity even in the heartless "swim thug" the protagonist used to relate to in the eighth grade; before he entered high school and his ego grew with it. The mean girl has a story of her own. The protagonist is jealous, inconsiderate, irrational, self-doubting and indecisive at times but never refuses to acknowledge it. Nothing is black or white and the dynamics between various characters run deep. And they learn. They learn so much about real world issues without making it look like an After School Special.
By the end of the novel, I was proud. Of all of these characters. Of everything they had become when just a novel ago (Confessions, #1), they had just started high school and had been scorned and stomped over in every way. Despite the feeling that at times, there felt like there were too many issues and it felt like everyone had way too much on their plate, I still applaud this novel and the series for what it is. I cannot wait to read the next novel for more of this wholesome, emotional, honest and REAL series that I wish was written and published when I was still in high school.
Julia Cape: A dedicated classical piano student just trying to get through her last semester of high school while waiting to hear from music conservatories.
Reed MacAllister: A slacker more likely to be found by the stoners’ tree than in class.
Julia and Reed might have graduated high school without ever speaking to each other…until, during a class discussion of Romeo and Juliet, Julia scoffs at the play’s theme of love at first sight, and Reed responds by arguing that feelings don’t always have to make sense. Julia tries to shake off Reed’s comment and forget about this boy who hangs with the stoner crowd—and who happens to have breathtaking blue eyes—but fate seems to bring the two together again and again. After they share an impulsive, passionate kiss, neither one can deny the chemistry between them. Yet as Julia gets closer to Reed, she also finds herself drawn into his dark world of drugs and violence. Then a horrific tragedy forces Julia’s and Reed’s families even farther apart…and Julia must decide whether she’s willing to give up everything for love.
Defy the Stars is written in an edgy free-verse style that will appeal to fans of Ellen Hopkins and Lisa Schroeder; however, the writing is accessible enough to speak to non-verse fans as well. The novel’s combination of steamy romance and raw emotion will appeal to fans of Gayle Forman, Simone Elkeles, Jennifer Echols, and Tammara Webber. With a story, language and form that both pay homage to and subvert Shakespeare’s play, Defy the Stars is much more than just another Romeo and Juliet story.
REVIEW
Julia and Reed.
Modern-day versions of Romeo and Juliet.
This should be easy, you might think. Their fates are locked the minute their eyes meet and they are made to read the parts of Romeo and Juliet in English class.
I felt uneasy as I started reading Defy The Stars, the opening verses setting the tempo to a relationship that was doomed from the start. Julia, after all, is well-off while Reed is from the wrong drug-infested side of town. And we all know how Romeo and Juliet ends.
What was the point, then of falling in love with these characters?
And yet, when Julia dismissed the conception of love at first sight and Reed quietly justifies it, I realised that Defy The Stars was a modern adaptation in the truest sense. It was multi-layered and more intense than I'd ever expected it to be.
"I see what Julia's saying," he starts, "but the way Shakespeare writes... Just 'cause a feeling doesn't make sense, doesn't mean it's not right, you know?"
Julia is devoted to playing the piano. She hopes to get into a prestigious music conservatory. Reed is a stoner and branded a slacker whose life will amount to nothing.
When their paths cross... they instantaneously forget that a life when they got by without really knowing each other even existed.
Their lives are hopelessly intertwined, especially when tragedy strikes and Julia's parents and Reed's brother will not rest until they cut ties with the other.
It's devastating. It crushes them more than they ever thought it would.
This is the part when I felt swayed by the rhythm... carried away by the remorse and arousal and urgency and enamored with their story. This is the part when Defy the Stars felt like more than just another Romeo and Juliet adaptation and I was swept away by the complexity of the tale and the parallels drawn from the classic.
The dirty drug world, the hauntingly beautiful piano pieces played by Julia and the intensity of Reed's gaze... their histories, their relationship outside each other and the melodies which soar and then are tainted by melancholy. Reed's guitar riffs, the hopelessness and the urgency to overcome it...
The free-verse brought each and every aspect of this book alive until I could feel myself in Julia's skin, struggling to hit the right note and make sense of her relationship with Reed. Her fingers ran across the keys, transcending technique until each note was entrenched with feeling. I felt her desperation to make their relationship work against all odds as her heart overpowered her mind.
And the ending truly blew me away... In my opinion, it couldn't have been more true to how things would've panned out for Romeo and Juliet in the current decade. It was utterly devastating yet poignant. And unlike the classic, I could come to terms with it.
Defy the Stars is an indie gem. I urge you to give it a try, especially if you're fond of modern-day adaptations. I was moved by this beautifully written tale and blown away by how well developed and multi-layered the characters were. I felt one with the pace of the story and when it ended, I couldn't stop myself from rating it on Goodreads right away; the remnants of Julia's last actions still lingering in my mind.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
And that's not all! The author, Stephanie Parent, has been generous enough to donate an e-copy of DEFY THE STARS for giveaway (Thank you so much!). I guarantee you'll love this book... so do enter for the chance to win an e-copy :) a Rafflecopter giveaway
In 2012, the Plague ended the world as we know it. In 2130, Charlinder wants to know why.
The origin of the disease remains a mystery. Their ignorance of its provenance fuels a growing schism that threatens to destroy the peace that the survivors' descendants have built. Unwilling to wait for matters to get any worse, he decides to travel to where the Plague first appeared and find out the truth-which means walking across three continents before returning home.
Charlinder has never been more than ten miles from home, has never heard anyone speak a foreign language, and he's going it alone.
He survives thousands of miles of everything from near-starvation to near-madness before he meets Gentiola. By then he's so exhausted that the story she offers to tell seems like little more than a diversion...until he hears it.
Nothing could have prepared him for what he learns from her, and no one ever told him: be careful what you wish for. The world is a much bigger place than Charlinder knew, and his place in it is a question he never asked before.
review
I might sound a bit gushy and all over the place while saying this but I LOVED THIS BOOK! I spent the whole of this week reading Charlinder's Walk in bits and pieces till I reached the heart of the journey and was glued, as aware that I was getting closer to the "origin", the original purpose of the journey as Charlinder and I wouldn't have preferred to read it any other way.
THE STORY
Charlinder's Walk takes place in the year 2130. The world as we know it was destroyed in 2012 due to an airborne-disease with a frightfully long incubation period. The Plague spread from Italy to the rest of the world leaving few survivors who were scattered all over. They were in many ways taken back a few centuries with the absence of technology and with stronger ties to the land.
The brewing conflict between the Faithfuls and everyone else about the origins of the Plague and how life should go on in the Paleolan community leads Charlinder, a teacher who hasn't even ventured ten miles away from home, to decide to embark on a journey all the way to Italy to find out the actual origin of the Plague. Maybe that, he decides, will bring an end to all the unrest...
Charlinder WALKS across three continents... that's right, walks!... over the span of three years with only a sheep, Queen Anne's Lace or Lacey for short as his companion. He does this bystopping by various villages at various points of time and meeting people from various cultures and communities with different beliefs about race, gender, sex and the Plague itself. By the time he quite literally finds the origin of it all, he wonders if the source of the problem was all he came for and if that alone is enough.
THE JOURNEY
I loved everything about Alyson Miers' Charlinder's Walk because of the Walk itself. Charlinder's journey wasn't easy and I felt like I was there with him as he crossed several barriers, encountered several hardships, was confronted with so many different types of living and attitudes towards gender, division of labour, sex and life and that, in many ways, helped him grow and fully live up to his potential. I loved Charlinder, with his fondness for knitting, weaving and teaching and how he was bright, unusual and yet completely true to himself. I enjoyed getting to know him as he grew out of his old shoes, ragged from his travel, into newer and bigger ones.
What the journey was like for me...
It started out relatively slow as Charlinder encountered a variety of communities and societies as he walked across North America. A lot of the communities were not avuncular like the Paleolan settlement and the Hyatt's dictatorship-like regime was a startling depiction of how even though post-Plague, the whole haves vs. haves-not classification had been practically wiped out, it was only a matter of time before it could reemerge.
I could appreciate Charlinder's bond with Lacey, his sheep and only constant source of companionship, especially after Charlinder ventured into Eurasia where there was the language-barrier between him and the locals that presented a whole new challenge! I adored Lacey and grew extremely attached to her. There were so many light hearted moments that had me giggling, especially one with Charlinder, Lacey and a wolf!!
I could feel Charlinder's feelings of isolation and distance from everything around him as the winter approached. Halfway through the book, I was filled with a sense of heartache and loss but really, that's where it all began. By the time Charlinder reached Italy, I could feel his confusion and wonder about what he'd actually came for and the actual implications of the origin of the Plague.
It was an amazing journey, especially the journey back to North America when I could feel the growth in him and how his experiences had caused him to question his role in the world rather than just the state of the world! It was a teary, difficult and realistically long journey and I loved the insights, details and richness of it!
I started reading Charlinder's Walk at a photocopy shop, read a little on the bus on my way back from my summer internship and most of it at home on particularly sunny days. This book has traveled places and I loved every minute of my journey with it! Charlinder's Walk was an extremely long read for me which made me appreciate the length and breadth of Charlinder's walk even more. With a pleasant writing style, an engaging and diverse bunch of characters and the exploration of Charlinder's inner struggle alongside the exploration of much broader themes, this is a book that will stay with me for a long time.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This is a coming-of-age post-apocalyptic novel that will make you think and envision a world that is strangely reminiscent of the world we live in. I feel Charlinder's Walk is definitely not for anyone looking for a quick read. If you are, you might be a little put off with this book because it is not exactly fast-paced. But spending time with this book is a rewarding and enthralling experience!
Publication date:15th October, 2011 Source: A hardcopy (paperback) of this book was provided as a part of the blog tour Links:Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS! I apologise for my insanely massive review! It's just that I loved this book so much ❤ - - -
Wanna win a $50 gift card or an autographed copy of Charlinder's Walk? Well, there are two ways to enter...
Alyson Miers was born into a family of compulsive readers and thought it would be fun to get on the other side of the words. She attended Salisbury University, where she majored in English Creative Writing for some reason, and minored in Gender Studies. In 2006, she did the only thing a 25-year-old with a B.A. in English can do to pay the rent: joined the Peace Corps. At her assignment of teaching English in Albania, she learned the joys of culture shock, language barriers and being the only foreigner on the street, and got Charlinder off the ground. She brought home a completed first draft in 2008 and, between doing a lot of other stuff such as writing two other books, she managed to ready it for publication in 2011. She regularly shoots her mouth off at her blog, The Monster's Ink, when she isn't writing fiction or holding down her day job. She lives in Maryland with her computer and a lot of yarn. Connect with Alyson on her website,blog, Facebook,Twitter or GoodReads.
I've decided to start Two Minute Reviews as a way to feature books I either read months ago and never got to review or books I feel could be reviewed together! For instance, take these two really cool books written by Australian authors that are both simple, sweet and awesometastically awesome. They are both also very coming-of-age and I highly recommend reading them! It fills you with this warmth that some books just don't achieve in spite of doing everything right.
I'm talking about Good Oil by Laura Buzo and The Year Nick McGowan Came to Stay by Rebecca Sparrow!
Good Oil by Laura Buzo
from goodreads 'Miss Amelia Hayes, welcome to The Land of Dreams. I am the staff trainer. I will call you grasshopper and you will call me sensei and I will give you the good oil. Right? And just so you know, I'm open to all kinds of bribery.'
From the moment 15-year-old Amelia begins work on the checkout at Woolworths she is sunk, gone, lost...head-over-heels in love with Chris. Chris is the funny, charming, man-about-Woolies, but he's 21, and the 6-year difference in their ages may as well be 100. Chris and Amelia talk about everything from Second Wave Feminism to Great Expectations and Alien but will he ever look at her in the way she wants him to? And if he does, will it be everything she hopes?
Review:
Amelia is worth more than she thinks she is. At fifteen, she experiences a plethora of firsts- including hopelessly crushing on Chris, her co-employee at Woolies who is much older than she is. It is easy to see how any fifteen year old would fall for Chris! He seems like The Guy Who Knows Everyone and is funny and even appears to be wise. While I thought the book was mainly going to be about Amelia, I was surprised to find out that it was also about Chris! The story is told in both Amelia and Chris's perspectives- voices that feel so different as they both have different obstacles to overcome. Obstacles that come with being fifteen and twenty one respectively!
My thoughts? It's such a gorgeous book. I loved how, despite being nineteen, which is neither fifteen nor twenty one years old, I got lost in both Amelia's and Chris's worlds and could relate to both of them. Amelia's story made me feel nostalgic while Chris's problems were something I could anticipate. I'm thankful for the way the book ended. I honestly can't see it ending any other way.
Publication date: August, 2010
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Source: Bought
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
The Year Nick McGowan Came to Stay by Rebecca Sparrow
Seventeen-year-old Rachel Hill is the girl most likely to succeed. And the girl most likely to have everything under control . . . that is, until her dad invites Nick McGowan, the cutest boy at school, to live with them. Rachel worries that this could only be a recipe for disaster, but her best friend Zoe thinks it’s the perfect opportunity for lurve. Sparks start to fly for all the wrong reasons. Nick finds Rachel spoiled and uptight and Rachel dismisses Nick as lazy and directionless. But a secret from Nick’s past draws them together and makes the year Nick McGowan came to stay one that Rachel will never forget.
Review:
The cover is adorable! The Prologue was cute. The Epilogue wraps things up neatly. The middle is light, quirky and engaging all at once! I had so much fun reading this book! The writing was good but more than that, I fell in love with the quirky characters! Nick was awesome but he was kind of overshadowed by goody-goody yet amusing Rachel Hill! I liked how worked up Rachel got when she realised the school's hottie, Nick McGowan, was coming to live with her family. I liked how she took down her posters and made every effort to look cool- as embarrassed as she was by her efforts. (And as annoyed as she was that Nick was coming in the first place). I would've done the same thing at her age!
And Zoe, Rachel's best friend had me snorting every few minutes! I adore her! Most of the time, she stole the show! Rachel and Nick were amusing and by the time we got to know all there was to know about Nick McGowan, I adored them both! Please go read this book now! I loved that it was set in the late 80s (go cordless phones!) and the overall warm-fuzzies this book gave me!
Katie Sandford has just gotten an interview at her favourite music magazine, The Line. It's the chance of a lifetime. So what does she do? Goes out to celebrate - and shows up still drunk at the interview. No surprise, she doesn't get the job, but the folks at The Line think she might be perfect for another assignment for their sister gossip rag. All Katie has to do is follow It Girl Amber Sheppard into rehab. If she can get the inside scoop (and complete the 30-day program without getting kicked out), they'll reconsider her for the job at The Line.
Katie takes the job. But things get complicated when real friendships develop, a cute celebrity handler named Henry gets involved, and Katie begins to realize she may be in rehab for a reason. Katie has to make a decision -- is publishing the article worth everything she has to lose?
cover
I love how aesthetically pleasing the cover is! The way the baby blues contrast with the girl's dark hair. It also really fits with what Spin is about. I'd love to own this book just for the cover!
review
Take a character who will fit in practically any chic lit book- someone who is thirty but acts like she's twenty, is kind of a mess, lies all the time and has an interview lined up for her dream job as a music reviewer at The Line! What happens when this girl, Katie Sandford, shows up drunk to the interview? And is later offered the job on the condition that she follows a celebrity -Amber Sheppard, child star gone wild- into rehab for a month and dishes the dirt on her for a gossip rag? Throw Katie into rehab and a path of redemption and you get an astonishingly fun, witty and poignant story with great characters and an unbelievable climax that has its heart in the right place!
Once I started reading Spin, I couldn't put it down. I loved the detail and the way the characters were written. Whether it's Katie, Amber, Henry or Conner- they were all characters who were fleshed out enough that I came to care about them. Whether it was Conner, Amber's hotshot ex boyfriend's fear of heights or Amber and Connor's geeky means of communication, these little character quirks added colour to the novel! I also loved the way the book dealt with the themes of family, friendship, honesty, toxic relationships and addiction.
The tone was light but the message was clear. The pace was also just right; there was never a dull moment. It was a truly heartwarming journey- one that flawed but lovable Katie was in desperate need of. Spin by Catherine McKenzie is a book you'll want to reread immediately. Peppered with real music, celebrity and romcom references, it's a fun, fresh and charming book that will stay with you for a long time!
quotes from Spin
"Christ. I'm thirty years old and clasping a foolscap note to my chest, worried I'll get caught after lights out with a man I barely know hidden under a bed. How the fuck did that happen?"
"Meghan Stewart. My high school rival. White-blonde and bouncy, she couldn't quite manage a full beer bong. Now she's married to my first imaginary husband, and I'm talking to him in a rehab garden. There's a lesson in that somewhere, I know, but I can't quite put my finger on it."
Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb — males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.
When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape — to find her twin brother and go home.
But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.
review
In Wither, Lauren DeStefano introduces us to a horrifyingly morbid post-apocalyptic America. It's one of the most disturbing scenarios in dystopian fiction: when the science that was used to create the perfect generation that was devoid of cancer, AIDS and every other disease causes the next generation to go horribly wrong. Men of the later generation have only till twenty five. Women die at the age of twenty. The older "perfect" generation who caused this lives until the ripe age of 80-100 years old and they are forced to witness what they have unleashed.
The book opens with sixteen-year old Rhine Ellery being trapped in a van along with several other girls by the Gatherers. She, along with two others, Cecily who is barely fourteen and eighteen-year old Jenna are then made the brides of Linden, who lives in a large mansion with his father. Rhine could've perhaps gotten used to this life of privilege if it weren't for the twin brother left behind. She is determined to search for a way to escape the heavily guarded mansion and find her brother.
It is impossible to describe how much I enjoyed reading this book. It was one of the few books that I managed to finish in less than twenty four hours! I didn't even notice time pass as I was HOOKED. It is a disturbing world that you wouldn't want to live in but Lauren DeStefano's writing makes it morbidly beautiful. Even in the hopelessness and bleakness, the author infuses beauty and something close to hope.
But more than anything, one thing I LOVED about Wither was how complex yet real each character was. It wasn't just the central character. Every character had motives, dreams, hopes and back story. While I was rooting for Rhine to escape with Gabriel, the servant boy she falls for... There was also Linden, Rhine's husband, who tugged at my heartstrings from the very beginning.
When the plan for Rhine to escape the mansion was set in motion, I wanted to yell STAY! Because Linden needs her!
Even with Housemaster Vaughn, the manipulative father and creepy scientist, it is obvious that he cares for his son more than anything.
Another thing that unexpectedly gripped me was the bond between the sister wives- Jenna, Rhine and Cecily. They have no control over the secrets and happenings in the mansion and so they gradually turn to each other. While each had their own shortcomings, they (for the most part) had each others' back and grew close.
Despite certain cracks when it came to the world Wither is set in (everyone dying at the EXACT same age?! How?), the book felt complete. I haven't got that feeling in a long time. With most books, even when it is a great read, it seems to lack a certain something. Wither felt complete- with the attention to detail, complexities and beautifully developed characters.
I also liked the way Wither ended. There was no big cliffhanger and it didn't need a cliffhanger. It was kind of nice and fitting for the book to have an ending that was contrary to the claustrophic hopelessness that prevailed throughout the novel. And it's obvious that there is much more in store. I am already counting down the days left for Fever (The Chemical Garden #2) to release!!
I've finally warmed up to reading books on my iPad. It still doesn't smell or feel as good as paperbacks but the iBooks app is pretty neat (I prefer it to the Kindle app). I just discovered the Highlight and Note features (I'm kinda slow at figuring out stuff) and that became the dog-earring equivalent for me (which makes the book feel more mine, somehow). It is so NICE to be able to make notes and highlight the funny/poignant lines! That is something I wouldn't dare to do in a solid paperback coz I'm sure there will be a Madam Pince lurking nearby, waiting to yell, "Despoiled! Desecrated! Befouled!" (that line from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince made me laugh out loud the first time I read it. I know a person who is totally like that!)
Anyway, I discovered the Highlight and Note features on my iBooks while reading Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley. And it was such an APT time because now my e-copy of Graffiti Moon is graffiti'd with pink, green and yellow highlights and notes at various parts of the book! It's THAT quotable, intense, quirky and fun! I'm so glad I finished reading it by the end of the year!
It’s the end of Year 12. Lucy’s looking for Shadow, the graffiti artist everyone talks about.
His work is all over the city, but he is nowhere.
Ed, the last guy she wants to see at the moment, says he knows where to find him. He takes Lucy on an all-night search to places where Shadow’s thoughts about heartbreak and escape echo around the city walls.
But the one thing Lucy can’t see is the one thing that’s right before her eyes.
the cover
Don't you love the cover? The yellow paint-can set in a black background spraying the words, "an artist, a dreamer/ a long, mean, night"! It's the cover that first wow-ed me. I'm talking about the Aussie cover. The US edition cover is also pretty cool- zeroing in on two people on a dark, magical night.
CONFESSION
It took me a month to finish reading this book. I usually take less than a day for 250 page book, so that was kind of unusual. It started out a little slow for me and it has also been a busy month. But it was so worth it as despite the initial reluctance to get on with the book, I was soon sucked in. Every time I returned to the book, it was like I had never left and I was still a part of that one night of confessions, graffiti, epiphanies and nose-punching!
review
Graffiti Moon spans over one night- the night Lucy, Jazz, Daisy, Ed, Leo and Dylan are out celebrating the end of Year 12. The story is told through the perspectives of Lucy and Ed and interspersed with poems by Leo. I'm usually not a fan of two person narratives. There's usually one person who you are a little bit more interested in or it just seems unnecessary. BUT it was perfect for Graffiti Moon. Lucy and Ed both have things holding them back, confessions to make and things to ponder over. It was perfectly paced and didn't end or begin too soon.
I took an immediate liking to Lucy. She wasn't stereotypically whiny or ready to bite everyone's head off. She was funny and could hold her own ground. And I loved her parents! It took me a little longer to like Ed- I had to wait for his back story, when his insecurities were delved into and the mask came off- but when it did, I was instantly wow-ed. Leo, who writes poetry and lives with his grandmother and Jazz who thinks she is psychic were another three-dimensional pair! Dylan and Daisy didn't have much to do in the story but I was constantly amused by their bickering!
It was fascinating to see these characters develop and evolve throughout the night. They were constantly showing different shades, learning more about themselves and making important decisions. So many other random things added colour to this well developed story: pink vans, cockroach-eating Malcolm (what a fun antagonist!), the owner of the paint shop (I loved Bert as much as Ed did), Lucy's memories-in-bottles folio and the graffiti'd walls of the city.
Graffiti Moon has convinced me that it doesn't get any better than Aussie YA (Melina Marchetta is my other favourite Aussie author)! What an amazing take on relationships, art, growing up and just seeing things (and people) in a whole new light!
The Disreputable History of Frankie-Landau Banks by E. Lockhart is not your average YA read. Sure, there’s romance, quirky characters and you can relate to parts of it. But the book begins, rather than ends with Frankie catching the eye of Mathew Livingston, the “big man” of Alabaster Preparatory School. Frankie, who has acquired curves and tamed her frizzy hair over the summer is finally noticed by Mathew Livingston, who she has been crushing on for a long time. When she’s with Mathew, she also gets acquainted with his group of friends who are privileged, fun loving and members of a secret society called The Loyal Order of The Basset Hounds which has existed in Alabaster Prep since the 1950s.
Whether it’s that she’s the “bunny rabbit” of her family or that Mathew treats her like she’s someone to be taken care of OR that she has just taken a class called Cities, Art and Protest, she is spurred to infiltrate the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, which has always been an all-men society. Shaking their organization by impersonating the Bassett King and collecting information about them, she ends up controlling them and the direction of the pranks of the Bassets.
whatithought
I had been putting off reading The Disreputable History of Frankie-Landau Banks for a whole summer. Why? I don’t know. Despite the amazing reviews it had gotten, the plot seemed too vague to really make an impression on me. That was a mistake I shouldn’t have made. Because I found TheDisreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks to be BRILLIANT. Let’s look at why,
1. FRANKIE LANDAU-BANKS. What a masterpiece of a heroine! I loved her quirkiness, her need to prove herself and love for “imaginary neglected positives” (like petuous, from impetuous and dulgent, from indulgent). Oh, and that she reads P. G. Wodehouse, which spurred her love for imaginary neglected positives. I LOVE P. G. Wodehouse. His novels are like desert!
There is also a vulnerability to her, that’s odd when paired with her brains, ambition and determination but is nevertheless there. On the whole, these things made her likeable and towards the end, you, along with the detached narrator, are sure to believe that Frankie is destined to change the world.
2. THE BOARDING SCHOOL SETTING. I love boarding school stories! They remind me of Harry Potter and the Enid Blyton’s which makes me happy! Alabaster Prep, a swanky prep school in the same league as Andover and Exeter is described by Frankie’s father, an alumnus of the school and the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, as a school that will help you get connected and set you for life. Through the bonds fostered by the pranks, midnight wanderings and parties, of course.
3. THE PRESENT DAY BASSETS. Frankie says that along with Mathew Livingston, she kind of fell in love with the group of boys he hangs out with as well. They are a bit silly, elitist and have a knack for not remembering anyone who’s not in their group but also have clever conversations and their antics make her (and us) laugh. We end up falling in love with these boys as well, despite their exclusivity and self centeredness and in a way, BECAUSE of their exclusivity and self centeredness.
4. GIRL POWER! The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is all about feminism and girl power! Frankie is prone to being underestimated and coddled in the “patriarchal institution” that is Alabaster Prep (which was previously all-boys) as well as in her own family. When everybody finally sees what she can do, most of them shun her, while the same stunts provoked admiration and hero-worship when believed to be carried out by a boy.
“Why did you do that, Frankie?” asked Porter. “I mean, it was brilliant, what you did, what you made us do- but why would you bother? That’s what I can’t figure out.” Frankie sighed. “Have you ever heard of the panopticon?” she asked him. Porter shook his head. “Have you ever been in love?” He shook his head again. “Then I can’t explain it,” Frankie said. (p. 326/327)
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is a book, the crux of which is centered on the result of crushing on one of those hotshot boys everyone wants to be as well as the desire to prove oneself, to be more than just arm candy. It is more than just another Young Adult romance. It is about a fifteen year old girl who dares to step out of the box, cross the line and in the process, opens our minds and makes us introspect, laugh and want to be her friend. Best. Book. Ever.
/
| 
| 
