Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (Rachel Cohn and David Levithan)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Pretty darn good book, overall.

I'll start with what I disliked the book (that being the shorter list):
1. The excessive swearing. Yes, yes, I know the arguments both ways. I've heard one of the authors explain his side of it himself, even. But it's still kind of obnoxious at times.
2. The whole instant-love thing. It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Highly enjoyable, and by the end was completely explained, but throughout the early-middle stars were dropping like flies as some nagging impression my parents have left upon me said How irresponsible can these people be?.

Now that that's over with...

Re-iterating: Pretty darn good book. One night, 180-some pages. Fast-paced and wholly enjoyable. Nick and Norah seem to represent the people that pretty much all teenagers, at least in the backs of their minds, want to be. They're not the popular kids--they're the kids who have friends and honestly are happy just like that.

Which, though I'd hate to disagree all of the wonderful, mature adults who have commented on the book, makes it undeniably the opposite of what many people want to say the book is. It isn't a bad influence. The main characters aren't bad people. They don't smoke or drink. And they don't expect everyone to be their friend. It's not like every teenager on the planet is going to have their mind infected with the book and go make out with some random person after reading it.
(For more on this opinion, I must turn yet again to another author, who makes the point about his own book in this YouTube video.)

The musical current throughout the book is fantastic. I love music. I am a music nerd. The amount of music in this book (pretty typical of David Levithan, as I am discovering more and more) makes me happy. If you are a music nerd, it will make you happy too. But, yeah, read the book even if you're not. Because it isn't essential to be a music nerd or to know a lot about New York City to get the book.

Final summary: It's like a trashy novel but for intelligent people, particularly the musical type. Very good novel.

Kaspar Traulhaine, approximate (Pablo D'Stair)

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

FCC disclaimer: Received free from Goodreads first reads.

Kaspar Traulhaine is a murderer who thought he got away, until a man tells him that in three days he will be turned into authorities.

Mildly interesting book, overall. There's a slight problem in that Kaspar doesn't seem like the kind who would kill a man, though he does seem severely unhinged, and we never really find out what went down. Something about strangling a man and then dumping him in a trash can...? The reasons involve a girl named Claudia, though it's never clear what Gavin was to her, much less what Kaspar was.

I really struggled to finish the book. It's not terribly long, but it's also not terribly fast. It drags on, and I couldn't find a climax anywhere. Parts of it can only be described as revolting. Not an awful book, but it lacked any real appeal. The problem wasn't even Kaspar--who I doubt anyone who reads the novel could honestly like--the protagonist who constantly falls apart at random times and then immediately goes and drinks himself sick. The book just doesn't have enough appeal to eliminate the things that detract.


High points: the idea, some very impressive metaphors
Low points: Kaspar himself, the execution of the plot

Elsewhere (Gabrielle Zevin)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Liz Hall doesn't want to be dead. Her last words were "Um", for goodness' sake! She had a life down on Earth. Not a great one, but she had a best friend and a wonderful dog and a little brother who wasn't so bad. Yet at fifteen, she forgets just one time to look before crossing the street on her bike... and is hit by a taxi cab. Liz goes where everyone goes after they die, Elsewhere. It's a lovely place--perfect weather, you can't get sick, and you won't get any older. You can even watch your friends and family with the binoculars on the Observation Decks. No, to the pleasure of most patrons of Elsewhere, you don't get older--you get younger, until Release, when you're sent back to Earth as a baby. Until then, you can just work at your dream job--if you want--and have fun until your release.
Liz doesn't want to move on, though. She wants to have her life back. She wants to get a Massachusetts drivers' license. Can she ever move on?

The book itself has an incredibly creative canon to start on, but I couldn't help but find Liz a bit annoying. Well, let's be frank--either Liz was annoyingly stubborn, or everyone else was annoyingly complacent. Liz's denial of the fact that she couldn't go back to Earth resulted in every bad thing happening to her. And then, it's all gone in a flash. The author couldn't be less subtle about what was going to happen next in every situation, unless it was something completely absurd (which happened at least once). The romance was completely ridiculous and irritating.

Still, it was creative. It wasn't badly written. Not to melodramatic, not too light and airy. The speaking Canine was a bit out-of-place, but hey, why not. It's a magic world, isn't it? Zevin's prose is quick, the dialogue wasn't disappointing.

Overall, worth the read for the world-building. Not so much for the rest.

Thirteen Reasons Why (Jay Asher)

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Clay Jensen comes home one day to find a package on his doorstep without a return address. He opens it, and finds seven tapes. The special thing about these tapes? They contain the voice of Hannah Baker--his first and only crush, who committed suicide two weeks ago.
Clay doesn't want to listen, but he can't stop. Especially not when Hannah tells him that each side of the tapes has a story on it, a story relating to one of the thirteen people who is, in a way, responsible for her death. To have received the tapes, you must be on them.
And so Clay hits play. And he proceeds to listen through all thirteen tapes in one night, hearing Hannah's stories and following her footsteps throughout the town on a map he received before she died.

It wasn't my favourite book in the world, I'll say it honestly. I don't know what, but there was something that annoyed me when I was reading it, I know.

I can't remember what that could have possibly been now.

Hannah's narrative is beautiful and genuine, painful to read in her humour and sorrow. Her stories are heart-wrenching, and will strike a chord with everyone who reads the book because, well, they sound true. They could happen to anyone, really. Formatted with Hannah's tapes in italics and Clay's reactions in plain face, each chapter a different side, everything flows quickly and easily. This book is a true page-turner; I read straight through all day, stopping (barely) once, seeking sustenance. Hannah's story will shock you and break your heart. Clay's words, showing the repercussions of Hannah's death and the tapes, will throw salt on the wounds.

It's a wonderful book.

Listen to the tapes at the book's website here.

(Rated T for suicide and implied explicit scenes.)

Rooftops of Tehran (Mahbod Seraji)

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Pasha Shahed has a secret. He's in love. That alone is something that seems like it should be kept a secret in 1973 Iran, but the real kicker is that the girl he's in love with, Zari, has been engaged to another man, Doctor, since birth. Pasha even likes this man--everyone does. He's intelligent and an outspoken thinker, especially in their mid-class Tehran neighbourhood.
None of this means that they can't be friends, though. And so begins the summer of 1973, filled with nights in which Pasha and Ahmed sit on their roofs and name stars for those they love--the bigger and brighter the star, the better the person it belongs to. They talk about the government and school and above all, the girls they love. Ahmed has sworn he will marry his love, Faheemeh, and that he will help Pasha marry Zari. Faheemeh swears Zari loves him as well. Soon the four become the best of friends, spending long afternoons in Zari's yard, wondering what will happen when Doctor returns from his mysterious trip into the north of Iran.
One night, he does return--followed by the Shah's secret police. Everything falls apart, and the event leads to Zari's daring decision that will change all of their lives... perhaps permanently.

Absolutely amazing. Seraji's narrative is stunning, simple but quick. Every now and then there is a moment of purely poetic nature, loveliness matched only by the characters themselves. There's no "unexpected" romances--it's out on the table, not falsely tagged as "plot-twists" as in some other books. The two story lines running simultaneously through the beginning of the book could potentially be hard to follow, but I didn't find it so bad. The novel is in turn hilarious and heartbreaking, beautifully written. The vocabulary isn't terribly advanced or poetic on average, easily forgivable considering the author had to learn English on his own when he moved to the United States. It goes without saying, I'm very glad he chose to write this novel in English rather than any other language!

Utterly genuine, passionate, heartbreaking and gripping, Rooftops of Tehran is a stunning portrait of life in a nation on the brink of revolution.

Hidden Wives (Claire Avery)

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

FCC Warning: I won a free copy of the book. This has not changed my my stance on the book.

Hidden Wives centres around two teenagers named Sara and Rachel, both fifteen (though Rachel turns sixteen during the novel). They're sisters, or rather, half-sisters--Sara's mother is Anna Marx. Rachel's mother is Marylee Shaw. Both women are married to the girls' father, Abraham Shaw. They live in a polygamists' cult called Blood of the Lamb, in Utah. Both believe that marrying a man--most likely at least twenty or thirty years older, probably already with a few wives already--is the only way for them to keep from going to hell.
Sara's beginning to get skeptical. She's quickly discovering that she's too smart to ignore what she's seeing, blindly trust what she's taught. Unfortunately, others are seeing it, too.
Rachel believes in her religion with all her heart. No matter what, she is determined to always believe. Even when she's hurt, physically and mentally. Even when she falls in love. She's willing to stand by her religion until the very end...

The novels tells a gritty story, full of hurt and pain. But it's also undoubtedly a story of hope, and a story of truth. Highly emotional yet never graphic, Claire Avery (a pseudonym for the pair of sisters who wrote the book together) has brought a usually hidden reality into light with this new novel Hidden Wives. A fast-paced page turner, I read the last two hundred pages straight through. Highly recommended.

Graceling (Kirstin Cashore, The Seven Kingdoms Trilogy #1)

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Quite frankly, one bloody awesome fantasy novel.

Katsa is Graced; she is one of the few in the Seven Kingdoms bearing a particularly strong skill. In Katsa's case, she has a remarkable ability to kill, much to her dismay, as in her kingdom those who are Graced are at the mercy of the king. Katsa's position in the court is quickly decided, and she becomes the king's personal thug, sent to punish those who disobey the powerful King Randa. Katsa in secret has another role, however--she and friends within the court have devised what they call the Council, a band of shopkeepers, merchants, and other do-gooders whose primary goal is simply to keep people from being harmed by the hands of the kings. Katsa grudgingly has accepted these dual roles, at least until she meets Po, a Lienid prince, also Graced. Wrapped in his own quest to find his kidnapped grandfather, Po teaches Katsa about herself in ways she doesn't expect. Soon they're off together to find motive to his grandfather's kidnap, not realising the dark secrets that are just waiting to be unearthed...

Told in a story-teller's voice, Graceling is a fast-paced story, though the maintains a rather straight line all the way through. Don't worry, Po's not going to turn out to be Katsa's brother or anything: while not everything is exactly as it appears to the eye, there are no large, in-your-face surprises. Cashore's fantasy world is rock-solid, too--dragons aren't going to randomly appear--and it's all magical realism, so there aren't a million and one "OMG!" moments from characters as they learn about Katsa's Grace. It's a good, straight-forward narrative: not necessarily groundbreaking or profound, but a nonetheless a new world and concept to explore, without an irking magic that fixes all problems.

Highly recommended, especially for those who haven't read much fantasy lately or just want to read a solid magical story without frills.

(Rated Teen for non-graphic explicit scenes.)

13 Little Blue Envelopes (Maureen Johnson, Blue Envelopes #1)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ginny hasn't seen her favourite Aung Peg in months when she suddenly receives a package in the mail from her containing thirteen little blue envelopes, $1000 and instructions to fly out to London. Once there, she can open the envelopes one at a time, following the instructions on each one before opening the next. Following the instructions, Ginny sets off, expecting the adventure of a lifetime. What she doesn't expect is exactly what is waiting for her on the other side of the Atlantic, nor who she will be when she flies back home.

I know this isn't a completely believable book (Maureen herself didn't even really intend for it to be). No mother would allow their seventeen-year-old daughter to go rampaging across Europe with $1000 and thirteen letters from her aunt, who no one has seen in quite some time. What was the likelihood of Ginny finding Keith? And how did Ginny actually manage to do all of those things the letters said?

But as I read further and further, I realised I didn't care. It's a well-written book. Ginny and Keith and Peg and Richard and Carrie and everyone else are all good characters. Not good as in perfect, each of them managed to tick me off at one time or another, but good as in real.

And besides. This wasn't a completely cliché book. And that means a lot to me, especially after spending a day reading and reviewing stories on FictionPress.

I think that the thing that truly made me appreciate and love this book, though, was that I want this adventure. I want to go places. See places. I want to have Ginny's adventure. I want to have my aunt go insane and leave me thirteen little blue envelopes that send me trekking across Europe. I want to see all of those places, to meet a starving artist in London and a creep in Rome and four friends in Copenhagen. I want to get busted making out with a great guy with an awesome British accent in a graveyard.

But I don't have a crazy aunt (my aunts are all perfectly sane), and I don't have enough money to trek across Europe alone. Nor do I have that much willpower. Or freedom. So instead, I settle with just simply reading the narrative or someone who did. Maureen Johnson is an undeniably a good storyteller, and she has an undeniably good story to tell in 13 Envelopes. So call it cliché and call me a hypocrite, but I loved every page of it.

new blog! (and déjà vu)

Hm. It really seems like not too long ago I was making a new blog...

Oh right! I did make a blog not to long ago! (This one.)

Of course, that blog is essay-driven (that's one way to put it, anyway). Whereas this blog, as you may have guessed, will be entirely reviews.

Because it's about time I got a review blog so I could feel as special as all those other book-reviewer-bloggers, eh?

Kidding, of course.

stay funky and dftba--
x aneko