If I Stay Movie Trailer

Tonight I saw the movie trailer for Gayle Forman's book "If I Stay."  Now that's just great.  Another YA novel I HAVE to add to my TBR list!!!  I have rarely read YA in the past but it all started with Harry Potter, then Twilight, then the Lunar Chronicles...... I have to admit there are a lot of impressive YA novels out there!  My children are all young adults (in their twenties) and here I am.  Is this what it's like to have a midlife crisis?

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - book review

The Fault in Our Stars
Author:  John Green
Published:  2012
Publisher:  Dutton Group, a division of Penguin
Pages:  313
Genre:  YA Fiction
Source:  Borrowed

Despite the tumour-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis.  But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.

My Thoughts:

As my readers may know, I don't read much YA.  It takes an exceptional book to break that barrier and The Fault in Our Stars is just that.  Why, you may ask, did I pick up this YA novel?  Was it all the hype, the reviews, the movie which was just released?  Well, yes, it was a bit of all of this though I can't say the choice was wholly attributed to its popularity.  Ranking is not solely a precursor to book selection for me.  No, it was more because of a fellow co-worker who loved the book,  staff-picked it and then was greatly dismayed when the CEO of the company staff-picked it as well, necessitating the removal of his sticker of approval and recommendation.  That, for me, was the deciding factor.  It meant that much to this individual that I had to read it.  So I did.

The Fault in Our Stars is as remarkable as all the reviews have indicated.  Herein is the story of a teen-age Hazel with terminal cancer whose parents are concerned with her reclusiveness and encourage her to attend a Cancer Kid Support Group.  It is here she meets two remarkable young men who leave a permanent impression in her life; one of whom steals her heart.

Augustus was tall, lanky, gorgeous with a crooked smile and blue eyes that lit up when he saw her.  He didn't take no for an answer which perturbed her as much as it flattered.  He's in remission and she struggles for breath, an oxygen tank her permanent companion.  She's afraid she is a grenade who will tear apart the lives of those close to her when her time has come.  She is more fearful for those she loves and cares about than for herself.  She is beautiful that way.  But it's her book recommendation of An Imperial Affliction that really brings them together and offers them a summer to remember.

They are different and yet a lot the same.  They banter back and forth, joke around, have similar ideals.  After posting an ad that they constructed together, to give away her childhood swing set, titled "Desperately Lonely Swing Set Needs Loving Home".....  Hazel and Augustus settled on the couch where Augustus read from An Imperial Affliction aloud and as he read she fell in love "the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once."

And before she tells him he tells her:

"I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable.... and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you."

Such a romantic notion and so tragic.  No wonder every teenage girl who reads this novel loves it!

It's not only the romanticism, it's the beauty of the language and the imagery.  

"The sun was like a toddler insistently refusing to go to bed."

Dessert: "a succulently rich cremeux surrounded by passion fruit - was too good not to at least nibble."

I love this book.  It's genuine, bold, tearful and funny.  You will feel every gamut of emotion in the human repertoire, just as I saw with a young lady who sat in the store and read the book cover to cover over a few hours.  She laughed, she cried, she smiled.  She loved it!

I highly recommend The Fault in Our Stars.  Read the book, see the movie.  Personally, I'm waiting for the Blu-Ray.  I refuse to sit weeping in a theatre.  Tissues strongly suggested for both the book and the movie.

About the author:

John Green is the award-winning author of Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns, Will Grayson, Will Grayson (with David Levithan), and The Fault in Our Stars.  His many accolades include the Printz Medal, a Printz Honor, and the Edgar Award.  John is on Twitter: @realjohngreen and tumblr: fishingboatproceeds.tumblr.com and online at: johngreenbooks.com.  He resides in Indianapolis, Indiana with his family.

#TheFaultInOurStars   #JohnGreen

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart - YA book review

We Were Liars
Author:  E. Lockhart
Published:  May 2014
Publisher:  Delacorte Press
Pages:  225
Source:  borrowed
Genre:  YA

http://www.emilylockhart.com

We were liars
A beautiful and distinguished family
A private island
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends - the Liars -
   whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.

And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

My Thoughts:

There were four friends, all teenagers, who got together each summer on an island.  They swam, played games, ate fudge, two of them fell in love and they were liars, each of them.

The fifteenth summer changed them, changed lives.  It was the summer Cady was found on shore with a cut in her head, drenched, and alone.  She could not remember what happened to her nor could she remember that summer.  

We Were Liars is suspenseful yet whimsical.  It's a coming of age story told through the eyes of Cady and is centred on the summer she couldn't remember.

The narrative is so clever as portrayed in these notes from Gat to Cady:

"In a profound, symbolic gesture, I am giving you this bar of Vosges I got when we all went to Edgartown.  You can eat it, or just sit next to it and feel superior. "

"Better than chocolate, being with you last night.Silly me, I thought that nothing was better than chocolate."

John Green endorsed this YA novel saying, "Thrilling, beautiful, and blisteringly smart.  We Were Liars is utterly unforgettable." 

We Were Liars is a creative endeavour full of wit and clever metaphors, written to entertain even the more mature reader.  

"Once upon a time there were three beautiful children, two boys and a girl.....  Bounce, effort, and snark.  Contemplation and enthusiasm.  Ambition and strong coffee.  Sugar, curiosity and rain.  And yet, there was a witch.  There is always a witch."

Not strictly for YA audiences, We Were Liars will shock you to your core.  Jaw dropping, shake your head, hide your eyes shocking.  I cannot tell you more.  You must discover this novel and its intricate tale for yourself.

Meet the Author:

E. Lockhart is the author of four books about Ruby Oliver: The Boyfriend List, The Boy Book, The Treasure Map of Boys, and Real Live Boyfriends.  She also wrote Fly on the Wall, Dramarama, and How to be Bad (the last with Sarah Mlynowski and Lauren Myracle).  Her novel The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks was a Printz Award Honor Book, a finalist for the National Book Award, and winner of a Cybils Award for Best Young Adult Novel.

WeWereLiars.com

A Powerful Tale in "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief
Author:  Markus Zusak
Published:  2005
Publisher:  Random House
Pages:  552
Edition:  Movie Tie In Cover 2013, Trade Paperback
Also contains:  A Reader's Guide, Related Titles, Internet Resources, In His Own Words - A Conversation With Markus Zusak
ISBN  9780385754729

Source:  a copy was given to me by the publisher.  Receipt thereof has no influence over my opinion of this novel nor this review.

It is 1939, Nazi Germany.  The country is holding its breath.  

Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

By her brother's graveside, Liesel Meminger finds her life changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow.  It is The Grave Digger's Handbook, left there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery.  So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordion-playing foster father, learns to read.  Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times.  When Liesel's foster family hides a Jewish man in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up and closed down.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

My Thoughts:

The Book Thief should be ranked with the popular classics from foregone eras.  A classic has been defined as:  judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind. A work of art of recognized and established value.  The Book Thief is just that and is certainly worthy of a prestigious location on every book lover's bookshelf.

I began The Book Thief the beginning of January as my first book of the year but time constraints necessitated it being put aside until recently when I had the time and opportunity to immerse myself in Liesel's world in Germany pre-war to war era.  Everyone I've spoken with of late has heard from me about this fabulous novel that I was so in love with.  I could hardly put it down and anxiously picked it up at every opportunity, so involved in this incredibly powerful tale.

The Book Thief opens with an introduction by Death as the narrator.  Not a grim reaper, but a being of great empathy and love for those he serves.  At this period of time Death is very busy, the war is a harsh task master and Death exhibits sadness at the loss of so many innocent lives, "For me, the sky was the color of Jews."  (page 349)  "I picked up each soul that day as if it were newly born. I even kissed a few weary, poisoned cheeks ... I watched their love visions and freed them from their fear." (page 350).

The most compelling character is Liesel Meminger.  We meet her as a young girl fresh off the train, passed into the hands of foster parents Hans Huberman and his wife Rosa.  Hans is a wonderful old patient soul with silver eyes and a gift for the accordion while his wife is terse and generous with expletives but beneath the rough exterior she hides a warm heart.  "She was a good woman for a crisis."  Liesel is a feisty personality who suffers nightly from nightmares about her brother's death which she witnessed aboard the train enroute to Molching, home of her foster parents to be.

Her first act of thievery occurs at her brother's graveside where she finds The Gravedigger's Handbook from which Papa (Hans) helps her learn to read as part of a nightly ritual that follows Liesel's nightmares. She has the bug and yearns for books and words.  Her second book is rescued from the ashes of a Nazi book burning and from there the mayor's wife's library falls victim.

Liesel and her best friend Rudy witness firsthand the Nazi regime in action.  The Jewish businesses closed, the people thwarted and paraded through town on their way to concentration camps.  The two friends rebel against the Fuhrer with thievery of food, some of which they drop as pieces of bread ahead of the parades for the prisoners.  One similar act of kindness earned a whipping by a Nazi soldier.

That act of kindness was towards a young man, Max, who had been hidden in the basement of the Hubermans.  Max's father had saved Hans' life in an earlier war, losing his own, and as repayment they hid the young Jewish man until the bombing began and it was no longer safe for any of them.  Max left one day in a tearful goodbye and wasn't seen until the day of the parade.  He was thin and weak from starvation and cruelty at the hands of the soldiers.  A prisoner of war on his way to the camps.

There were many cruelties in that small town in Germany.  A lot for a couple of young kids to witness and it changed them perceptibly.  To read of them in a book initially written for an adult audience in New Zealand and placed in the YA readership here and in the US, one can visualize the horrors as seen through the eyes of the young.  The war influenced their choices and their lives.  This book has been touted as life altering and it can be.  While The Book Thief has been marketed here for a YA audience, it holds appeal for adults as well.  The imagery, the flow of the written word, the effect of it all impresses upon the mind and the heart.  It is a masterpiece that has rightfully earned wide appeal and hearty recommendations.

Today's the Day! Release Date for Cress by Marissa Meyer!!

The third book in The Lunar Chronicles series is scheduled to be released today!!!  Tell me Lunar fans, how excited are you?

The Finale of the Hunger Games and Thoughts on the Whole YA Thing

I have come to the conclusion, not only of The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, but a final verdict upon the series:  worth a read!!!  As you may recall from my earlier post about The Hunger Games, the first book in the series, I had known about the book long before I contemplated reading it.  After all, I do not consider myself a YA (young adult) fiction fan.  Of late, though, I have read several books in that genre (aimed for that audience) that have changed my mind.  There are some incredible authors out there pouring their heart and soul into some of the very best reads available to a younger audience.  Might I say, the audience needn't be limited to teens nor young adult though.  If you are young at heart, believe in love, believe in the right to fight for what's right, to have values and morals, then YA may be for you.  At least, some of it.  In the last few years  I discovered the world of wizardry in Harry Potter, the surreal fantasy of vampires and werewolves in the Twilight series, the importance of love in Delirium (not that I hadn't already discovered this personally, but finally a book that addressed what a world without love could be like, a world without choice), and a world where a young girl of 17 has the power and ability to change a cruel savage existence under a controlling "Capitol" government by fighting for what she believes in, in the Hunger Games series.  Each of these books, in their own way, reinforces values and morals while doing so in an engaging manner that draws the reader into another world, surreal and impossible, yet in some ways not so unlike our own in the challenges we each face in a lifetime.

I'm not hooked on YA fiction, nor would I consider myself solely a YA reader, but I CAN say that I will not turn away from a YA book so readily as I have done in the past.  If you think any of the aforementioned books are airy without substance, then you probably haven't read them.  Being quick to judge a book based solely on its genre or focused audience, may leave you out of a world that is closer to reality than you might think, excluding you from the incredible experience of sharing in what could be some of the most meaningful writing you may have the opportunity to enjoy.  So here's a bit of a challenge to you, pick up something you never thought you'd enjoy before and give it a try.  I did and I was pleasantly surprised!

Have you discovered a genre, style or book that has changed your perspective of a particular kind of book?  If so, I'd love to hear about it.  

Some great Young Adult Fiction I have enjoyed lately!
Sudden Moves by Marissa Meyer, Delirium by Lauren Oliver,
Sudden Moves by Kelli Sue Landon, Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins