Sarah's Key: Set in half in WW2 era France and half in modern times, the book follows the story of a young Jewish girl whose family is rounded up and eventually taken to a concentration camp. The girl escapes to go back for her brother, who she locked in a secret closet to keep safe thinking they would be back the same night. The other half of the book follows an American journalist researching the round-up of French Jews. I like Holocaust books. Fugitive Pieces is one of my all-time favourite books! While I really liked this book, it wasn't my favourite.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson - This one follows two teenagers, both named Will Grayson. The first one has a flamboyantly gay best friend who is writing a musical about his life. The second Will Grayson has a secret, online boyfriend. As the novel progresses the two Will Graysons meet. Overall an easy, interesting read!
Life Before Man - This one, as expected, was more challenging than the teen fiction I'd been reading. Oh Atwood. Anyway... It has three alternating narrators - a woman, her husband, and the husband's lover. The wife's lover killed himself and is now in a downward spiral. Oh yeah, and the wife and the lover work at a museum together. Sound confusing? It was.
White Girl - READ IT! This one follows a girl who moves onto a reserve when her mom remarries. She is the only "white" girl around and is a huge target for bullies. This was a really interesting perspective - something different than the Indigenous focused books I have read before.
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist - What the hell? Seriously. The first half of this book was one f-bomb after the other. The second half was moderately better. I want to see the movie to see if it is better, but I fear I will just be disappointed. In my mind the book was better.
The Secret Life of Bees - I liked this one! Mind you, I find racial issue really interesting and this book takes place in the American South during the 1960s. A young girl and her "nanny" - for lack of a better description - end up having to run away from their home. The girl to escape her father, the woman because she is an escaped criminal. Well, a criminal for trying to register to vote. They end up on a bee farm and as it turns out the sisters they come to live with are not entirely strangers.
Dash & Lily's Book of Dares - This is when all my books started to co-mingle. First off, Lily is the main character in both this book and The Secret Life of Bees. Next, because of the same authors as Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, the format is similar. All in all, this one was a fun concept for a book and quite enjoyable! Essentially it is two teenagers that pass a red notebook back and forth, leaving "challenges" for each other to complete.
The Mermaid Chair - This one, same author as Bees, was surprisingly different. Following a woman who goes back to the island she grew up on after her mom (shudder) cuts off her finger with a cleaver. Yuck. The daughter falls in love with a monk (well that's a twist) and surprise surprise, the monk falls in love with her too. They have an affair, the mother cut off another finger, then we finally learn about the deep, dark family secrets. Overall, pretty decent.
Dear George Clooney: Please Marry My Mom - Really, the title tells you pretty much everything you need to know.
Fishtailing - Okay, this one isn't exactly a novel. It is more like a book of poetry. But a book of poetry that tells a story. There are four characters, all the plot structure is there, it is just told entirely through poems. I would actually really recommend this one for future teachers.
Every You, Every Me - This one was weird. Good. But weird. There was lots of use of strikethrough. You know
Okay. That's it. That makes 49 books. One more to go, one more day!
Thanks for reading these - now I don't have to ;P
ReplyDeleteYou are a reading Goddess!
Lenora