Spring and Summer Reading List 2014
The question today is "Can I remember all of the books I read since February?". The answer is "unlikely", but I'm going to give it a tray anyway.
1-2. A Feast for Crows and A Dance With Dragons by G. R. R. Martin-- Going off of my February addiction to this series, I finished it off. I will stand by my first review of the series and restate that the characters are vivid and the story is captivating. Some of the developments were shocking to me, but you got to love an author who is willing to kill of major characters because the story demands it.
3. Four: The Transfer: A Divergent Story by Veronica Roth-- With the "Divergent" movie finally making it to Turkey, I found this short story that outlines some of the back story of the male counter part to Tris, the female protagonist. There will be three more little short stories like this so keep your eyes pealed for them if you can't get enough "Divergent".
4. Torment by Lauren Kate-- This book is the second of a series that involves reincarnation and angles in an interesting way. While not using magic, this book deals with magical thinking and the not so clear lines between good and evil. The protagonist, Luce, suffers from a lack of good information and ends up being the most human of humans, making mistakes that lead to several catastrophes along the way. Great for 12-15 year old readers.
5. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt-- After having rotted my brain with what amounts to literary candy since January, I decided to pick up something more literary. This book won the Pulitzer Prize in 2014 and seemed to fit the bill. I found myself hating, not just disliking but truly hating, Theo, the main character, by the end of the book, but that was a result of the journey that I had taken with him from his 13 year old self to the the 30 something that he is at the end. The last literary character that I felt this strongly about was Holden Caulfield, and I had my reaction to Theo for similar reasons. With out giving things away, there are similarities to the characters that I can see now which are in opposition to how I live my own life. Since the writing is so captivating, I think of Theo as a real person and abhor his choices as I would if a person I know in real life would. My one criticism of the book is that the last 30 or 40 pages or so get a bit preachy in an "Upton Sinclair "The Jungle" wedding scene" way.
6. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell-- Wow. Just wow. This book is destined to be part of the American Cannon for young adult readers. This book set in the 80s captures all of the charm of mix tapes, the horror of domestic violence, the difficulty of inter-racial family life, and the contrast between poverty and the middle class as two high school kids find love despite all of the social pressures they are trying to navigate. It is wonderfully teachable and I would love to see this in high school classrooms.
7. Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laina Taylor-- The conclusion to a trilogy that deals, again, with the existence of angels, but also with parallel universes and other creatures. Offering a commentary on modern wars and political disputes that are based on age old prejudice, the books asks, "If people talked to each other, would they still hate each other?". The answer in this case is no. Not great writing, and the story is a bit hard to follow in places, but an approachable book with good themes about acceptance of differences.
1-2. A Feast for Crows and A Dance With Dragons by G. R. R. Martin-- Going off of my February addiction to this series, I finished it off. I will stand by my first review of the series and restate that the characters are vivid and the story is captivating. Some of the developments were shocking to me, but you got to love an author who is willing to kill of major characters because the story demands it.
3. Four: The Transfer: A Divergent Story by Veronica Roth-- With the "Divergent" movie finally making it to Turkey, I found this short story that outlines some of the back story of the male counter part to Tris, the female protagonist. There will be three more little short stories like this so keep your eyes pealed for them if you can't get enough "Divergent".
4. Torment by Lauren Kate-- This book is the second of a series that involves reincarnation and angles in an interesting way. While not using magic, this book deals with magical thinking and the not so clear lines between good and evil. The protagonist, Luce, suffers from a lack of good information and ends up being the most human of humans, making mistakes that lead to several catastrophes along the way. Great for 12-15 year old readers.
5. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt-- After having rotted my brain with what amounts to literary candy since January, I decided to pick up something more literary. This book won the Pulitzer Prize in 2014 and seemed to fit the bill. I found myself hating, not just disliking but truly hating, Theo, the main character, by the end of the book, but that was a result of the journey that I had taken with him from his 13 year old self to the the 30 something that he is at the end. The last literary character that I felt this strongly about was Holden Caulfield, and I had my reaction to Theo for similar reasons. With out giving things away, there are similarities to the characters that I can see now which are in opposition to how I live my own life. Since the writing is so captivating, I think of Theo as a real person and abhor his choices as I would if a person I know in real life would. My one criticism of the book is that the last 30 or 40 pages or so get a bit preachy in an "Upton Sinclair "The Jungle" wedding scene" way.
6. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell-- Wow. Just wow. This book is destined to be part of the American Cannon for young adult readers. This book set in the 80s captures all of the charm of mix tapes, the horror of domestic violence, the difficulty of inter-racial family life, and the contrast between poverty and the middle class as two high school kids find love despite all of the social pressures they are trying to navigate. It is wonderfully teachable and I would love to see this in high school classrooms.
7. Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laina Taylor-- The conclusion to a trilogy that deals, again, with the existence of angels, but also with parallel universes and other creatures. Offering a commentary on modern wars and political disputes that are based on age old prejudice, the books asks, "If people talked to each other, would they still hate each other?". The answer in this case is no. Not great writing, and the story is a bit hard to follow in places, but an approachable book with good themes about acceptance of differences.
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