Mini-reviews: Cinder, Requiem and Anya’s Ghost

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Published by Square Fish, an imprint of Macmillan

I have seen several raving reviews for Cinder and while I definitely liked it, I can’t say it was love for me. I definitely loved the concept, and thought that Meyer took the Cinderella story and crafted an incredibly unique re-telling, and I really liked the characters, especially Cinder herself. I listened to the audio and the narrator, Rebecca Soler, did an excellent job. Such a good job, in fact, that I made sure to get the second installment of this series, Scarlet, on audio as well. I’m definitely a fan of this novel and am excited to see what Meyer does with the series. I think dystopian novels are just becoming old hat for me these days. I haven’t fallen in LOVE with one in a long time. But Cinder is good, definitely well-written, thoughtful, great characters. I’d still recommend it for sure.

Requiem by Lauren Oliver
Published by HarperCollins

I FINALLY got Requiem from the library and cracked it open immediately upon returning home. For much of the novel, I must admit to feeling underwhelmed. I was, strangely, more interested in Hana’s story than in Lena’s. I found Lena’s portions of the novel more meandering, with too much happening. There was a revolution, there was a love triangle (sort of), there was the possibility of her mother being back in her life … it was too much, and because of all of that not enough attention was given to any one aspect of Lena’s story. Hana’s, on the other hand, was fascinating because she was living in the world as a Cured, engaged to one of the most prominent men in society, and she was learning major Important Things about this world. Overall, I was kept interested in the book but was disappointed in the ending and almost felt like it could have been four books instead of three.

Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol
Published by First Second, an imprint of Macmillan

Sometimes a graphic novel is exactly the kind of book I need to entertain me without too much effort on my part. I really liked this one, in which a girl falls into a well, finds the ghost of a girl who fell in that same well many years ago, and befriends the ghost. The illustrations in this one were gorgeous, the story is one of those that has a light lesson within, and I was overall incredibly entertained and interested in this story that Brosgol told. For those of you who enjoy a graphic novel every now and again, like myself, Anya’s Ghost is not to be missed.

Mini-reviews: The Great Gatsby & Marriage Rules

I don’t have a whole lot to say about either of these books so I thought I’d treat you to a couple mini-reviews today!

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Audio published by Caedmon, an imprint of HarperCollins

In anticipation of the movie coming out in May, I decided to reread The Great Gatsby, a novel I read in high school but haven’t picked up since. The audio was brilliantly performed by Tim Robbins, so it was an excellent listening experience, and I’m glad I reread this book because turns out there’s a LOT I forgot in the 13 years since I read it the first time. I forgot how utterly depressing the last part of this book is, and I got way more swept up in the characters and the drama of it all than I did when I read it the first time. Perhaps this is because I’m more mature than my sixteen-year-old self (I’d certainly hope that’s the case) or perhaps because it was required reading the first time around, but I enjoyed the book quite a bit more this time around. Also I definitely didn’t remember how absolutely gorgeous the writing is. At several points, I replayed portions of the audiobook because the writing was like poetry to me and I wanted to experience it again. Great book and now I’m even more excited for the movie.

Marriage Rules: A Manuel for the Married and the Coupled-Up by Harrier Lerner
Published by Gotham, an imprint of Penguin

My marriage is incredibly important to me, and while I don’t read a lot of self-help books, I’m always open to hear about what the “experts” have to say about sustaining a healthy, happy relationship. My relationship isn’t in trouble, not by any means, but this stuff is interesting to me, and who doesn’t want an even better marriage than they already have? Anyway, I liked this book. The “rules” are super-simple, easy things that are truly common sense. However, if you’re in a bad place in your relationship (we’ve all been there), common sense when it comes to your relationship isn’t so common. We get these blinders on when we’re angry, hurt, or whatever, and these tips from Ph.D. Lerner really can help to see through the emotions and work on what really needs fixing in the relationship. The common theme here is this – the only person you can change is you, and here are things YOU can do to do your part in improving your relationship, or in maintaining the great relationship you already have. This book covers a lot of ground, and it didn’t give me a ton of insight besides what I already knew to be true, but I did get some stuff out of it. And I think for couples in trouble, this book could be really helpful.

This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers
Published by St. Martin’s Griffin, an imprint of Macmillan

Sloane Price is a teenager when the end of the world begins. She escapes the masses of dead bodies, brought back to life and aching to bite anything still living, with five other students barricaded inside the high school. But Sloane’s life ended months ago when her sister left, leaving her to survive their father’s abuse alone. Now she’s struggling to find a reason to live, and although she’s living through the apocalypse with five people who are hopeful for their survival, she must decide if she can find a reason to stick around. With everything in her life gone, Sloane has to figure out if there’s anything left worth holding onto.

I have to admit that I’m not sure zombie stories are really my thing. I have liked some of them (such as The Forrest of Hands and Teeth series), but others I’ve had difficulty with and even given up on (Warm Bodies comes to mind – couldn’t get through it). This Is Not a Test falls somewhere in the middle. While I liked Sloane and felt deeply for her, I was more concerned with the human aspects of this novel than the zombies. Because it was more about the six of them still hanging onto their lives, I overall enjoyed it, but I do think it was my least favorite Courtney Summers novel due to the zombie stuff.

I empathized with Sloane right away, though. She had an incredibly traumatic life before the apocalypse, and basically everyone in her life who was supposed to protect her had either abused her or abandoned her. So she was pretty indifferent to being alive, and at one point she put herself in harm’s way with the intent to get bitten, with the intent to die. I definitely felt that she was the strongest part of the book, for me, as reading her struggle to decide whether to live or die felt very authentic to me, in the midst of a zombie story. What she was going through was not a normal situation, but she reacted to it based on everything she’d already been through in her life.

While I was interested in the dynamics between the group of six teens, for me this book was mostly Sloane’s story, more about her personal struggle than how she related to the rest of the group. Obviously they played a huge part in the story, but to me they were each a minor character in this story about Sloane’s conquering her internal demons, and therefore I didn’t much connect to any of them.

Summers has no fear in this book! She was not afraid to make Bad Things happen to her characters, and I applaud her for that. I also really liked her stark, cold writing style, a style that I’m almost always on board with but also one that really worked well with the subject matter of the book.

I listened to the audio of This Is Not a Test, narrated by Stephanie Cannon, which was just okay for me. Cannon has a hint of an English accent and I found that to be a little strange. I felt she did a good job with the narration, but I was really distracted by her voice.

I don’t have a ton of experience with zombie books, and I do fear sometimes that they aren’t for me. That being said, I did enjoy This Is Not a Test, due to Summers’ excellent writing and the main character, Sloane, who completely won me over. I would recommend this one for fans of zombie books and YA fiction.

Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin

Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin
Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

The second book in the Birthright trilogy begins with Anya Balanchine being released from Liberty Children’s Facility, ready to get back to her regular life, but sure that she’ll do so by following the rules and especially the law. Unfortunately, she can’t get back into Holy Trinity to finish high school, and no other schools will take her due to her criminal record. Her sister, ex-boyfriend Win, and best friend Scarlet have continued living their lives when Anya was gone, and as a result of that things have changed a lot by the time she gets back. In addition, her ties to her family’s chocolate business have put a huge target on her back, so Anya travels to Mexico, where chocolate is not only legal but plentiful, and begins to develop her own ideas about the family business.

After becoming enamored with the first volume in the Birthright trilogy, All These Things I’ve Done, I knew I’d need to get my hands on this second installment as soon as I could. I’m happy to say that this novel did not fall into the middle-of-trilogy trap that lots of these kinds of books do – it was not at all forgettable, it added necessary elements to the arc of Anya’s story, and was compulsively readable. I may have liked it even more than the first one, in fact.

I think the aspect of this novel I liked the most was the fact that Anya has grown up a lot in the space between the two books and it really shows in the character development that Zevin gives the reader. She’s still the same tough-as-nails girl she was in the first book, and she hasn’t lost her softer side, but somehow she’s gotten smarter, more resourceful, and more realistic about the world she lives in and her part in it. She’s still not interested in getting involved with the family business, but there’s a point at which she realizes she may not have a choice. Instead of bemoaning that fact, she decides to come up with a different, maybe better, way to be involved with the business. I liked where Zevin took Anya’s character and I have high hopes for even further development in the third book.

One of the complaints I had with the first book in this series is that I didn’t feel there was much explanation as to why chocolate and coffee were made illegal. Because It Is My Blood answers that question, and for that I was grateful, although I’m not sure how much I buy the explanation Zevin delivers. It made sense and it cleared some things up for me, but I’m not sure Zevin took these explanations far enough to explain as much of this future world as I would have hoped.

That being said, I really, truly enjoyed Because It Is My Blood and I was hanging on every single word throughout the novel. I like this series because it’s very unique, well-written, and still has the solid characterization that I need in a good novel. If you think this is just another YA dystopia I have to say that you are wrong, as there’s something extra special about this series. I’d definitely recommend giving it a try.

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks
Published by St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of Macmillan
Review copy received at SIBA

Budo is the imaginary friend of eight-year-old Max Delaney. Budo has been around longer than most imaginary friends, as Max’s Asperger’s Syndrome makes it difficult for him to make friends at his school, so he continues to believe in Budo long after the age at which most kids drop their imaginary friends. Budo loves Max and would do anything to protect him and be in his life forever. But when Max disappears one day, only Budo knows what happened to him, and he might just have to risk everything to save Max. Including his own existence.

Why did I wait so long to read this book? I cannot tell you how charmed I was by Budo’s story and how deeply these characters crept into my heart. Also, the creativity required to write an entire book from the point of view of an imaginary friend astounds me!

So, Budo is very likable, and although, yes, he is imaginary, he is completely real to Max, which makes him actually real. After all, perception is reality, right? So it takes only about five seconds of reading this book for the reader to know, 100%, that Budo is real. And as the book goes on, he becomes even more real as his experiences are so much more realistic than you can possibly imagine. The interesting thing about Budo is that he’s very childlike in certain ways – he’s had the same education Max has had, so he’s basically eight years old – but in other ways he’s very adult and perceptive, since he goes out and does things when Max is sleeping. He understands things about the world and about people that Max can’t even begin to grasp.

I hadn’t read a ton of reviews of this one so I was unprepared for the part when Max disappears, but apparently that’s common knowledge so it’s really not a spoiler. What would be more of a spoiler is the reason for his disappearance, so I won’t talk about that. What I will say is that this book deals with a serious event, and while it’s not dealt with lightly, it isn’t with a heavy hand, either. What I liked most about the plot is that Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend takes this very real thing and turns it into an adventure of sorts, in a way that was totally unexpected and brings unique and interesting characters into the story (Budo is not the only imaginary friend Dicks creates). It worked in such a fantastic way that it needs to be experienced, rather than explained.

I listened to the audio of Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend and it was truly an amazing experience. The narrator, Matthew Brown, made a great Budo and I was fully invested in the book from start to finish. I would definitely recommend going the audio route if you can.

This book is fantastic! I loved it, and listening to it made the experience even better, if even possible. Highly recommended.

Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson

Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson
Published by Grand Central Publishing, an imprint of Hachette

Ro Grandee is trapped in a passionate, but incredibly abusive, marriage to a man with strong ties to his family and their town in rural Texas. When she receives a premonition from a fortune-teller that her husband, Tom, is going to kill her, she decides to bring back the “old” Ro – real self, the one she’s hidden since childhood, named Rose Mae Lolly – and kill him before he can get to her. After her dreadful plan fails, Rose Mae escapes to her hometown of Fruiton, Alabama, on the quest for answers about her own past, growing up with an abusive father, and about the mother who abandoned her when she was a young girl. Her journey is about more than her past, though, as she’s truly on the run from sure death at the hands of Tom, and she must figure out a way to save herself in this process.

I’m almost finished reading Joshilyn Jackson’s books (*sob*, and she better write another one soon), and each time I read/listen to one of her novels I have a similar experience of feeling swept away by the story, falling in love with the main character, and going on a journey that only Jackson is capable of taking me on.

As is customary for Joshilyn Jackson, this story does not shy away from difficult topics. In this case, Ro is in a truly abusive marriage, one that lands her in the hospital on more than one occasion. But Jackson is realistic about the situation and shows how these types of relationships are not so black and white as outsiders maybe think they are – Ro is tied to this man financially, but more than that, she does love him. She has had so many good times with him that she can’t imagine letting those go. Plus, she experienced abuse as a child by her own father, so it is difficult for her to comprehend a loving relationship that does not include abuse. It’s not the easiest of topics to handle, domestic violence, but Jackson does it delicately and not without humor. It’s amazing how she has the ability to do that in the perfect way.

I loved Ro/Rose Mae and was happy to see a character from a previous book, Arlene Fleet, appear in this one too. Rose Mae was a minor character in one of Jackson’s previous novels, and I loved seeing that story continue somewhat here. It’s a great experience for the reader when an author takes a minor character who the reader barely gets to know (but can definitely form an opinion on) and turns them into a real person who the reader can root for, care about, and ultimately feel connected to. That was the exact experience I had here with Ro and I loved every second of it. I thought she was strong, ballsy, smart, but sadly trapped by her choices and circumstances, and I loved everything about her. And I ended the book feeling proud of how far she’d come and what she’d accomplished in her journey.

The audio of Backseat Saints, like most of Jackson’s novels, was narrated by Joshilyn Jackson herself and of course she does a beautiful job. I was able to relax and enjoy her wonderful prose and fully sink into this story and these characters because her narration is absolutely perfect. For those of you not familiar with her work, her narration in the audios is absolutely the way to go. It is fantastic and not to be missed.

Backseat Saints is yet another great Joshilyn Jackson novel, and the audio is excellent as Jackson narrates it herself. I cannot recommend her novels enough and this is just one more to add to that list. I only have one more of hers to read before I start begging and pleading for the universe to help her finish another novel. She’s just wonderful.

All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin

All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin
Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, an imprint of Macmillan

It’s sixty years in the future and lots has changed. Coffee and chocolate are illegal, water is rationed, and conveniences taken for granted in 2012 (such as the ability to read a paper book) are almost completely unheard of. Anya Balanchine is living in this era, in New York City, and as the sixteen-year-old daughter of a very notorious deceased crime boss, she lives a surprisingly normal life. She lives with her sick grandmother, autistic older brother Leo, and younger sister Natalie and has the regular teenage concerns of falling in love with the wrong person (in her case, the assistant D.A.’s son). But when someone close to Anya is poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures, police turn their suspicions to her first and suddenly she can kiss her carefully constructed “normal” life goodbye.

This was a totally unexpected gem for me! I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up All These Things I’ve Done, just that I’d vaguely heard good things, but it surprised me in a really great way. First of all, the future that Zevin created, while being somewhat scary, wasn’t all that out-there. In other words, it was completely believable. I can see that in the future we will need to be rationing water, we will eventually run out of trees with which to make paper, and the kinds of crime make sense for what the characters of that time are up against. The only thing was that I didn’t completely understand why coffee and chocolate were illegal – it was explained but I felt that Zevin could have gone more into that. Also, I wanted to know how was life in other countries? Some of the illegal stuff was legal in other parts of the world, so I would have liked for Zevin to maybe explore/explain that more. But not to worry, this is a series, so perhaps we’ll get more world-building later on.

Anya! I loved her. Such a kick-ass, but normal, girl. I admired her for her ambition in keeping her family together against all odds, for her maturity in dealing with her relationships, and for her ability to maneuver very adult situations skillfully and with wisdom well beyond her years. I’m excited because it seems as though she’s just getting on the cusp of being involved in the family business, so I’m hoping that in the next book she will fully immerse herself in that world – which would entail even more mature, but kick-ass decisions and actions from her.

The love story was really well done here. I loved that Zevin wasn’t afraid to have her character take a stance on something and stick to it, that Anya wasn’t completely taken over by her emotions that she never forgot what was truly important in her life – her family. The love story was sweet but not anywhere close to the main focus of the book, and I appreciated that a lot.

I listened to All These Things I’ve Done on audio and the narrator, Ilyana Kadushin did an excellent job. She truly embodied the character of Anya for me. She had a youngish voice, but not too young, if that makes sense. Perfect for a teenage character who is required to make adult decisions.

I liked this one so much! Definitely looking forward to the second in the series.

Faves from 2012: Audios

Here are my five favorite audiobooks I’ve listened to this year, in no particular order:

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson [my review] – This is a LONG audio but it’s well worth the time commitment it requires. Even though I’m not really an Apple person, the life and legacy of Jobs is absolutely fascinating and this audio is done amazingly well.

A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard [my review] – While Jaycee’s story can only be described as disturbing and heartbreaking, her bravery and resilience is something that needs to be understood. The fact that she narrates this audio herself takes it to that next level, and the entire thing had me riveted as I listened in shock but also awe of this remarkable woman.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline [my review] – This one made a lot of people’s “best of” lists last year, so I’d be surprised if you haven’t read it. But if you are in that camp, go with the audio. I’m telling you, the narration by Wil Wheaton brings this to life in an amazing way. The book itself is fantastic, but the audio brings it all together to a level of perfection we don’t see too often.

The Chaperone by Laura Morairty [my review] – If you read my review of this one, you may be surprised to find it on this list because I didn’t love the narrator’s accent. However, I loved so much else about this book and its audio production that I couldn’t leave it off my list. Fantastic novel and a great audio, overall.

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson [my review] – This should really say, “anything and everything by Joshilyn Jackson, as long as it’s narrated by Joshilyn Jackson”. While this particular book wasn’t my absolute favorite of Jackson’s, her narration as always was spot-on and such a joy to listen to that I couldn’t leave it off my list. Nothing she writes is bad, and nothing she narrates is less than fantastic.

Stay tuned tomorrow for my top five nonfiction reads this year!

Love Anthony by Lisa Genova

Love Anthony by Lisa Genova
Published by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster
Review copy provided by the publicist

From the publisher:

Olivia Donatelli’s dream of a “normal” life shattered when her son, Anthony, was diagnosed with autism at age three. Understanding the world from his perspective felt bewildering, nearly impossible. He didn’t speak. He hated to be touched. He almost never made eye contact. And just as Olivia was starting to realize that happiness and autism could coexist, Anthony died.

Now she’s alone in a cottage on Nantucket, separated from her husband, desperate to understand the meaning of her son’s short life, when a chance encounter with another woman facing her own loss brings Anthony alive again for Olivia in a most unexpected way.

Beth Ellis’s entire life changed with a simple note: “I’m sleeping with Jimmy.” Fourteen years of marriage. Three beautiful daughters. Yet even before her husband’s affair, she had never felt so alone. Heartbroken, she finds the pieces of the vivacious, creative person she used to be packed away in a box in her attic. For the first time in years, she uncaps her pen, takes a deep breath, and begins to write. The young but exuberant voice that emerges onto the page is a balm to the turmoil within her, a new beginning, and an astonishing bridge back to herself.

Lisa Genova’s previous two books have received a lot of buzz, but I hadn’t read anything by her before so I wasn’t sure what to expect with Love Anthony. Unfortunately, though, I was expecting to kind of love it (since everyone raves about her as an author), so I was slightly disappointed when I didn’t fall in love with this novel. I did enjoy it, it just wasn’t the gem of a book I was hoping for.

Love Anthony is about two women, both struggling with huge losses in their lives and trying to create new realities for themselves. On the outside, you wouldn’t think they have much in common – one a newly single mom with three young daughters, the other a woman with no living children and whose marriage dissolved years ago. However, as the story goes on, it’s clear they have much in common and their lives end up intertwining in a unique and unexpected way.

While I liked both Olivia and Beth, I couldn’t quite connect to either one of them. I think part of it is because my life is so vastly different from their circumstances – I have never had children, have never been through a divorce, etc – but part of it may just be the way the characters came across the page. While I wanted to connect with them, and I definitely cared about their stories and wanted to see them through, I just felt that they were both at arm’s length from me throughout the book.

The other issue I had with the novel is that I think the way the two end up connecting with one another at the end was supposed to be a surprise, and I saw it coming from almost the first page. I strongly dislike the fact that I saw this ending coming from a mile away.

However, there were many things I did like about the book. The writing was really very good and Genova really created a sense of place with the novel. I felt that I was on Nantucket with these women, I could smell the salty air and hear the waves crashing. There was one particular scene where Beth is having a family portrait taken, and I almost felt that I was right there with them as they were getting the pictures taken with the ocean as a backdrop.

Also, I listened to the audio of this one and it was performed very well. Debra Messing (of Will and Grace fame) narrated it brilliantly. She truly embodied both of these characters and I think I only kept listening after not totally loving the book because of her narration. If you plan to read this one, I highly recommend experiencing the audio.

While I didn’t fall in love with Love Anthony, I would still consider checking out the rest of Genova’s novels and I can still recommend the book if you like this type of thing. It just didn’t work perfectly for me.

The Next Best Thing by Jennifer Weiner

The Next Best Thing by Jennifer Weiner
Published by Atria, an imprint of Simon & Schuster
Review copy provided by the publisher

From the publisher:

Actors aren’t the only ones trying to make it in Hollywood.…At twenty-three, Ruth Saunders left her childhood home in Massachusetts and headed west with her seventy-year-old grandma in tow, hoping to make it as a screenwriter. Six years later, she hits the jackpot when she gets The Call: the sitcom she wrote, The Next Best Thing, has gotten the green light, and Ruthie’s going to be the showrunner. But her dreams of Hollywood happiness are threatened by demanding actors, number-crunching executives, an unrequited crush on her boss, and her grandmother’s impending nuptials.

Set against the fascinating backdrop of Los Angeles show business culture, with an insider’s ear for writer’s room showdowns and an eye for bad backstage behavior and set politics, Jennifer Weiner’s new novel is a rollicking ride on the Hollywood roller coaster, a heartfelt story about what it’s like for a young woman to love, and lose, in the land where dreams come true.

I’m a pretty big fan of Weiner’s – have read every one of her books – so it goes without saying that I was anxious and excited to pick up a copy of The Next Best Thing soon after its release. Happily, I found that the book lived up to my expectations and I enjoyed it just as much as I have enjoyed many of my favorite Jennifer Weiner novels.

Above all else, what I most loved about this novel was the character of Ruth. She is a damaged person – physically by the car accident that killed her parents, and emotionally by the fact that she grew up without said parents – but at the same time, she has such a can-do attitude and has huge dreams for herself. She grew up with a fabulous grandmother who encouraged her beyond belief, and as a result she actually has a confidence in her own abilities that most people in her situation would not have. I loved that, while she wasn’t confident in her looks, she truly believed that she could be successful in her chosen career. I loved this about her – she was dead set on being a successful television writer, and she became one. Even when there was a ton of stuff thrown at her – as you will see if you read the book  - she never once gave up on her dream. Love.

I don’t know how much experience Weiner has with the Hollywood scene, but it seems to me that she must know what she’s talking about, because the events in the novel feel extremely realistic. It seemed to me that Weiner brought what life on a TV show set is really like and I certainly enjoyed this unique and interesting setting of the novel.

I listened to the audiobook and it was a great experience. The narrator, Olivia Thirlby, did an excellent job and I truly believed that she was Ruth. She embodied the personality of the main character and did such a great job telling this story. I definitely would go with the audiobook if you enjoy listening to your books.

If you are a fan of Jennifer Weiner, you absolutely must read this novel. I thought it was just as fun, heartwarming, and true as some of her best novels. If you haven’t yet tried Jennifer Weiner’s books – what are you waiting for? She writes smart women’s fiction that is about issues that run much deeper than traditional chick lit – family, love, acceptance, achieving your dreams, all kinds of stuff. I love her and I really liked The Next Best Thing.