December Reading List-- Good Bye 2012
This month I spent a lot of time on planes and in airports. Between the Christmas Market and going to Seattle for Christmas, there was lots of time to read. I don't really like to sleep on planes, so when I have a Trans-Atlantic flight, I get lots of hours of reading in.
1. "Girl in the Arena" by Lise Haines-- This is a bit like "The Hunger Games" but not. The main character is the daughter of a gladiator. This society of gladiators live in the modern world and have all of the sports drink deals that modern athletes get, but they risk their lives. There is something hinky going on in that very few glads ever survive the length of their contract. The second book is due out... well, there is no word on that and as this came out in 2009, I don't expect she got the contract to write the second one. This is a teen book, and the writing is mid-quality at that.
2. "The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer" by Michelle Hodkin-- This teen paranormal thriller (but with no vampires) is an interesting read. It asks some interesting "what ifs" that kept me into the story. There is of course a love subplot, but that is not interfering with the main story line of a girl who is either being stalked, or is going crazy. At times the reader is not sure which is happening, and this is a bit like "Gone Girl" in that way.
3. "The Evolution of Mara Dyer" by Michelle Hodkin-- I really don't know what I would do without my Nook and the ability to purchase books using wi-fi in airports or Starbucks. In this continuation of the first "Mara Dyer" book, the reader continues to question reality or insanity as things start to get weird. The person she thinks she can trust, he boy friend, had many hidden umm... talents?... that are revealed in this book. The last book in the series is due out Fall 2013, so I'll be waiting for that.
4. "The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls" by Julie Schumacher-- One part "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," one part "Mean Girls" and one part "Who done it?", this is a book that I picked up because of the tag in the cover:
5. "The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight" by Jennifer E. Smith-- This is a cute, feel-good story about a first encounter with love. It takes place on a plane, over just under 24 hours, and is an innocent good time. A great book for a rainy day if you need a "Nicolas Sparks" type feel good story, but are sick to death of Mr. Sparks.
6. "Reached" by Ally Condie-- This is the last in the "Matched Trilogy". The story could have easily been told in one novel, not three, but as I like to know how things end, I picked this up and read it over the vacation. The love triangle between Cassis, Ky, and Xander is similar to the Jake, Edward, and Bella thing from "Twilight" but this one is a bit more real. Each of the characters is alone for the majority of the book with temptations and time to reflect on things. I strongly disagree with this statement from the book's page, "With exquisite prose, the emotionally gripping conclusion to the international–bestselling Matched trilogy returns Cassia, Ky, and Xander to the Society to save the one thing they have been denied for so long, the power to choose."... My major issue is with the statements "exquisite prose" and "emotionally gripping conclusion."
7. "The Crown of Embers" by Rae Carson-- This is the second book to "The Girl of Fire and Thorns" which was an interesting read. This second book does not disappoint, but it does wander into a more magic driven plot that looses some of the energy from the first book. The first book did have some of the magic, but it was more about the will of a girl to survive against all odds, where this chapter has her relying on her power a bit more. The end of the book is quite a cliffhanger, so I'll be reading the third one, due out in the fall of 2013.
1. "Girl in the Arena" by Lise Haines-- This is a bit like "The Hunger Games" but not. The main character is the daughter of a gladiator. This society of gladiators live in the modern world and have all of the sports drink deals that modern athletes get, but they risk their lives. There is something hinky going on in that very few glads ever survive the length of their contract. The second book is due out... well, there is no word on that and as this came out in 2009, I don't expect she got the contract to write the second one. This is a teen book, and the writing is mid-quality at that.
2. "The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer" by Michelle Hodkin-- This teen paranormal thriller (but with no vampires) is an interesting read. It asks some interesting "what ifs" that kept me into the story. There is of course a love subplot, but that is not interfering with the main story line of a girl who is either being stalked, or is going crazy. At times the reader is not sure which is happening, and this is a bit like "Gone Girl" in that way.
3. "The Evolution of Mara Dyer" by Michelle Hodkin-- I really don't know what I would do without my Nook and the ability to purchase books using wi-fi in airports or Starbucks. In this continuation of the first "Mara Dyer" book, the reader continues to question reality or insanity as things start to get weird. The person she thinks she can trust, he boy friend, had many hidden umm... talents?... that are revealed in this book. The last book in the series is due out Fall 2013, so I'll be waiting for that.
4. "The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls" by Julie Schumacher-- One part "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," one part "Mean Girls" and one part "Who done it?", this is a book that I picked up because of the tag in the cover:
I mean what AP English teacher could resist that? So I picked it up, and it filled about three hours of one of my flights nicely. The story is a nice showcase of how different people are, and they do end up working together. Not something I would teach as a whole class, but maybe a good choice for a book circle.The members of "The Unbearable Book Club," CeeCee, Jill, Wallis, and I, were all going into eleventh grade A.P. English. But we weren't friends. We were literary prisoners, sweating, reading classics, and hanging out at the pool. If you want to find out how membership in a book club can end up with a person being dead, you can probably look us up under mother-daughter literary catastrophe. Or open this book and read my essay, which I'll turn in when I go back to school.
5. "The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight" by Jennifer E. Smith-- This is a cute, feel-good story about a first encounter with love. It takes place on a plane, over just under 24 hours, and is an innocent good time. A great book for a rainy day if you need a "Nicolas Sparks" type feel good story, but are sick to death of Mr. Sparks.
6. "Reached" by Ally Condie-- This is the last in the "Matched Trilogy". The story could have easily been told in one novel, not three, but as I like to know how things end, I picked this up and read it over the vacation. The love triangle between Cassis, Ky, and Xander is similar to the Jake, Edward, and Bella thing from "Twilight" but this one is a bit more real. Each of the characters is alone for the majority of the book with temptations and time to reflect on things. I strongly disagree with this statement from the book's page, "With exquisite prose, the emotionally gripping conclusion to the international–bestselling Matched trilogy returns Cassia, Ky, and Xander to the Society to save the one thing they have been denied for so long, the power to choose."... My major issue is with the statements "exquisite prose" and "emotionally gripping conclusion."
7. "The Crown of Embers" by Rae Carson-- This is the second book to "The Girl of Fire and Thorns" which was an interesting read. This second book does not disappoint, but it does wander into a more magic driven plot that looses some of the energy from the first book. The first book did have some of the magic, but it was more about the will of a girl to survive against all odds, where this chapter has her relying on her power a bit more. The end of the book is quite a cliffhanger, so I'll be reading the third one, due out in the fall of 2013.
I'll get busy. most of my readings are posted on Goodreads. Good to see that you are still enjoying Europe.
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