Books

Book 215: Winger – Andrew Smith

Over the past few weeks this book started appearing on a lot of the book blogs I follow. As I noticed the ‘score’ of the book pretty much unanimously being high and the general excitement and fervor surrounding the reviews and responses I knew I had to read this book sooner rather than later and I am very glad I did.

If you haven’t read this book yet, you should. Everyone should read this book; and I do mean everyone. I honestly believe that any reader can find something to identify within this book. And as an added bonus not only is it hilariously laugh out loud funny, but it also wrenches many of your other emotions whether you want it to or not. Smith has created such a tongue-in-cheek character you can’t help but identify with him and love him and want him to do well.

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2013 Challenges, Books

Book 214: To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee

What a great re-read. This was required reading in high school and I remember reading it, but I had little-to-no recollection of the story other than the major plot points. This re-read counts for my Back to the Classics, a bonus for my Mount TBR and The Classics Club reading challenges.

Before you read my review, try to find the To Kill A Mockingbird review in the list of 19 Depressing One Star Reviews of Classic Literature on Buzzfeed and then once the shock has fully settled in you can come back and read my review.

As bad as the review is, it’s not necessarily wrong in many aspects; this novel is a very specific and very short novel, but I would not go anywhere near so far as the person who wrote the review. I can easily see where someone would not be impressed with the book for its slow pace, but that’s what I love about it. Lee sets the setting, and thus the book, up perfectly:

“People moved slowly then. They ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of the stores around it, took their time about everything. A Day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County.” (5)

So you can’t say you weren’t warned, I mean come on its page FIVE. However, where I disagree is the characters and their one dimension-ness according to the reviewer.

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ARC, Books

Book 213: Sweet Young Thang (Theta Alpha Gamma #3) – Anne Tenino

For the third installment of Anne Tenino’s Theta Alpha Gamma series she definitely made an impression. Although I despise the title, Sweet Young Thang was an enjoyable read and had me laughing out loud and saying ‘awwwww’ on more than one occasion. I received a copy of this book from the publisher in response for my honest opinion and received nothing in return.

Overall, I felt this was a great addition to the series and I enjoyed reading it. I loved learning more about Collin and felt Eric was a great addition to the TAG universe. In addition I loved the hilarity the other frat brothers provided under the guise of sensitivity training! (Plus who doesn’t love a Project Runway/Tim Gunn reference.) I’m assuming the next book will focus on Jock, openly gay, or Noah, potentially gay, two characters introduced in this novel.

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Books

Book 212: The Front Runner – Patricia Nell Warren

I had no idea what to expect going into this novel other than the basic ideas of what the novel was about and the time period of the setting, but I am so glad I read it. It has such an iconic place in the LGBT literature compendium and even holds a place in Hollywood legend in that it has been rumored to be turned into a film (and the rights have changed hands many times) since the early 80s.

The first thing I do have to say is that this book is a product of its time and it is definitely dated, but what was shocking to me as I read it was how little rights for LGBT individuals changed up until about five-to-ten years ago. And as such it had most of the archetypes of LGBT literature and it didn’t bother me as much as I knew its history and I fell in love with the characters and the story itself. As with most books of this time period, the book provided a great guide to the LGBT underground in NYC and even took a trip to Fire Island. I can easily imagine some young closeted, or freshly out, LGBT individuals reading this book and heading to the big city to find themselves.

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2013 Challenges, Books, The Classics Club

Book 211: Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe

This was a surprising read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Unlike many of the ‘classics’ I’ve read the writing style and even the vernacular speech patterns were easy to read and kept the story constantly moving forward. This book counts for my Mount TBR and Back to the Classics reading challenges and is also on my Classics’ Club List.

I didn’t have to read this in school and I’m actually glad I didn’t. I know if it was a requirement to read this in high school I would not have had a good reaction to it. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I was an above average student when I applied myself, but I just would not have found this book interesting or a good read. And, to be honest, I’m a little shocked I did find it as interesting as I did with the strong basis in religion the author clearly had. But somehow it wasn’t so overpowering that it turned me off from the story/novel so well done.

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