Reading is my passion. I love finding a good book and getting so enveloped by beautiful writing, a magnetic plot, and lovable characters. Here are my latest reads:
The Books of Ember by Jeanne Duprau: These include The City of Ember, The People of Sparks, The Prophet of Yonwood, and The Diamond of Darkhold. So the series went downhill after the first book, but I found the characters, Doon and Lina, so likable that I had to keep going through the rest of the series. The books are written for young adults and take place in the future after a horrible disaster (wars, disease, etc.) has nearly annialated the population. Doon and Lina are survivors in Ember, an underground city developed to preserve the human race.
Flygirl by Sherri Smith: Ida Mae Jones is a high yellow (meaning she is African American, but so light she can pass for white) housekeeper at the beginning of America's involvement in WWII. With dreams of flying, she abandons her family and race to fly as a white woman with the WASPS. The story was captivating and the ending slightly disappointing. Apparently Smith wrote the story in graduate school, and the ending feels like the sudden stopping of a student just trying to finish a paper. It's definitley still worth reading.
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak: Loved, loved, loved it! It was such a satisfying read. The story is narrated by Death in WWII Germany and focuses on Liesel Meminger, a young German orphan. Just from history itself and from Death's narration, the reader knows what's going to happen, and yet I was devouring every page and still in love with the book at the end. There is a lot of swearing, both English and German, but as my children's lit professor at BYU would say, it was "purposeful". Apparently a movie of the story is slated to come out in 2010.
I will leave it at those three reviews. Have you read anything good lately?
10 comments:
I just read the City of Ember and I liked it. :)
Flygirl sounds interesting.
I just read The Phoenix Dance It is about a girl, named Phoenix, with bipolar set in the fairytale of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. It feels contrived in places (because of some therapy sessions with a healer explaining her condition), but it was really interesting to get inside this girl's head. The author has bipolar and so it feels authentic that way. The language that she uses to describe how Phoenix sees the world is beautiful in places.
Oooh, I love talking books! I've wanted to read City of Ember and now I'll have to check out the Book Thief.
Yes, "Life of Pi"...it was awesome, I think you would like it.
I just read the Book Thief too! I liked it--very interesting point of view. I liked the City of Ember a lot, but didn't really like Sparks either. I'll let you know how the one I just started goes.
You know I love to read so I am always interested in hearing whats out there and whats good. I also enjoyed the book thief--Ryne read it too. He needed a book for school and I trapped him with the "it's written about wwII" He loves that kind of stuff. Thanks for the info
I read Life of Pi and actually hated it...just my personal opinion. I have a suggestion and its only because its SOO different then anything I've read. Its a trilogy called Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. They are fantasy which I have never liked but surprisingly they were really good. And the author is LDS and lives in Utah which is kind of cool. A few girls at my work read them and we were all very skeptical but we all liked them!
You should join Good Reads and add me as a friend! I loved "The Book Thief" but did not like "Life of Pi". My favorite read recently is "The Hunger Games". It's more violent than Book Thief, but I don't remember much language "purposeful" or not.
Hey, thanks for the suggestions! I'm always looking for a good book. I use Scrapbook Factory Deluxe and love it. It's not like tying your shoe, but it's pretty user friendly.
I think I'll put a hold on a couple of those books at the library. I'll let you know on Announcing Becca how I liked them. :)
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