2014 Challenges, Books

Book 321: Twilight (Twilight Saga #1) – Stephenie Meyer

I think the text I sent to Alie when I was nearing the finish sums up my thoughts perfectly about this novel: “I hate you. The 14 year-old idiot girl in me loves this book.” Seriously, I hope you’re happy Alie!

I did enjoy the novel more than I thought I would, but there were times where I was so frustrated at Meyer’s writing and the idiocy of the characters/story that I was tempted to abandon it. I didn’t and have even downloaded the remainder of the series to finish while on vacation.

Aside from Alie’s numerous submissions on here for me to read the book the primary reason I read it is that Alie’s agreed to be Episode 4 of my podcast Come Read With Me if it was this book. So get ready for that release in early 2015.

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Books

Book 316: Will Grayson, Will Grayson – John Green & David Levithan

I’m not sure how David Levithan went so far under my radar for so long. Seriously, I’ve read two books by him (with a third on my shelf) and I’ve seriously enjoyed both and it doesn’t hurt I pronounce his name Leviathan no matter how many times I read it.  As for John Green, the only thing I know about him is that he wrote The Fault In Our Stars which until I finished this novel I’ve had no desire to even look into.

I can’t remember whose blog I saw this on, but I knew I needed to read it when I read the synopsis and I finally got a copy from my local library. It was a quick and hilarious read, even if I didn’t like the lack of capitalization in half the book which is funny as that’s the portion by Levithan. According to Wikipedia, they split the book evenly and it worked perfectly. The juxtaposition of the two styles and stories was perfectly balanced and the final scene had me in tears.

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Books

Book 260: Openly Straight – Bill Konigsberg

I saw this book first on Sarah’s blog Sarah Reads Too Much and as soon as I saw the author and read her review I knew I wanted to read it. My first introduction to Bill Konigsberg was through his debut novel Out of the Pocket. It’s hard to believe I read it three years ago AND it was my very first book on my old Sony e-reader. The best part is as I did a quick re-read of that post Konigsberg answered quite a few of my critiques and he’s clearly matured as a fiction writer over the past few years!

As I read the book I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between this and Andrew Smith’s Winger which was a great novel I read last year. However, they are distinctly different and as much as I enjoyed Winger I would probably put this one ahead, not for the writing, but for the story and the subject matter.

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ARC, Books

Book 249: Christmas Kitsch – Amy Lane

I didn’t have any expectations going in and overall I enjoyed it. It could’ve been better but it could also have been a lot worse. This was the last galley/ARC of my year and it was an endearing quick read. I received a copy from the publisher in return for my honest response; no compensation was received.

I tried to stay away from romance novels for so long but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed wallowing in them this past year. When I saw Christmas Kitsch I internally debated for quite a bit of time on whether I would read it and finally broke down and got it. I was hesitant because I always thought the super-specific holiday reads (i.e. Debbie Macomber) were super hokey even though I’d never read them. And I finally requested a copy while trekking through War and Peace, I figured a nice light fun read would be a great follow-up!

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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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