The Book Thief

Prepare yourself for a tear-jerker. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, is one of the most uniquely written books I've read in a long time.

The bulk of the book takes place on Himmel Street, just outside of Munich, Germany in the 1930's-1940's during World War II. The story revolves around a 9 year old girl, Liesel Meminger, who is sent to live with a foster family after her brother dies. At her brother's funeral, she steals her first book, The Gravediggers Handbook. This is read to her by her foster father, the silver-eyed accordionist Hans Hubermann. Over time, Liesel steals more books and becomes acquainted with interesting characters such as Max, the Jewish man that the Hubermann's are hiding in their basement, Rudy, the boy next door, and the mayor's wife, who lets Liesel steal books from her library. To add a distinctive twist, the whole story is narrarated by none other than Death, who has an insightful perspective on the happenings on Himmel Street.

For me, the book was really hard to get into. After reading the first few pages, I put it down and forgot about it for a month. But then I came back to it and forced myself to get past the confusing first chapters. And I'm glad I did. Sad, insightful, dark, and profound, it's a captivating book that will pull you in and keep your attention long after you've finished.
For an excerpt and full review, read more here.

This Lullaby

Sarah Dessen's This Lullaby is on my favorite books list. It's chick lit though; sorry guys!

The story is about a girl named Remy, who has committment issues. Her mother goes through marriages as fast as Paris Hilton goes through clothes. And her dad, a musician who died right after she was born, wrote her a famous song called 'This Lullaby', which features the line 'I will let you down'. This line basically sets the stage for Remy's relationships, and she finds it hard to really love someone. That is, until she meets the amusing Dexter. As the plotline progresses, Remy finds herself opening up to Dexter. Basically, it's a book about learning how to accept yourself before you can accept other people. It's witty, fast paced, and a feel good book that you'll fall in love with as soon as Dexter steps into the scene.
See what the critics said!

If you liked this book, you might also enjoy:

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

Bloom by Elizabeth Scott

Dairy Queen by Catherine Murdock

Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

Thirteen Reasons Why

This book was originally published in October of 2007, but I never got around to buying it since I hate buying hardcovers. Finally I went to the library and checked it out, went home, and finished it in the same day.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher tells the story of a boy named Clay who receives seven casette tapes with thirteen reasons why his fellow classmate Hannah Baker killed herself. Throughout the book, we hear from Clay and Hannah's perspective, and we are taken on a journey around town to the different spots that Hannah describes on the tapes.

When I first heard that this book was about suicide, I thought that it was going to be some cheesy 'don't do it' type of book, or some depressing true story. But it wasn't. It was surprisingly good. Hannah and Clay were both easy to relate to; everyone's been picked on at one time or another, and everyone's stood by and watched someone else get bullied without doing anything. Asher expertly weaves a tale that leaves the reader slightly sad, but nonetheless satisfied. It's a good book for a rainy day when all you want to do is curl up in bed.

Want more details? This is a good review.

Sink Your Teeth Into This

Hello and welcome to my blog about young adult books! I'll be picking two new books a week to summarize and review.

This week's book is Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.

Synopsis:

Twilight starts off with the seventeen year old protagonist, Isabella Swan, moving from Phoenix, Arizona to rainy Forks, Washington. While at her new school, she attracts the attention of many of her fellow classmates, except that of the mysterious Edward Cullen, who acts repulsed by her. Bella is able to trick her friend Jacob Black into telling her an ancient legend about vampires. After a little research of her own, Bella comes to the conclusion that Edward and his family are 'vegetarian' vampires, or ones that only diet on animal blood. Edward and Bella fall in love, but their relationship is thrown into peril when another vampire coven comes into town. One of the new vampires, James, decides to make Bella his target and the Cullens are forced to hide Bella in Phoenix. James hunts her down, and she is tricked into meeting him in an abandoned ballet studio where she is attacked. However, Edward swoops in to save the day before Bella can be killed. The book ends with Edward and Bella attending prom; Bella is asking Edward to turn her into a vampire, but Edward refuses, not wanting her to ruin her life for him.

My thoughts:

Before the whole Twilight craze began, I actually enjoyed the book. But then I read it again, and again, and I realized that it's nothing more than a guilty pleasure book. To start off, there's really no plot at all; it's a typical 'girl meets boy' story with the rather overdone twist of vampire lore thrown into the mix. Then, the relationship as a whole is completely unrealistic. Based on Edward's inhumanly good looks and the scent of Bella's blood, they're suddenly soulmates after only a few weeks. Bella is even willing to trade her humanity to become a vampire for him.

I found it extremely annoying reading from Bella's point of view, as she only really commented on how perfect Edward was, and always questioned how he could be in love with her. That reason was never disclosed either; Meyer hinted that the main attraction was Bella's blood, and the reader is led to believe that at some point in time Edward fell in love with her whole self. That irks me quite a bit, considering that Bella describes herself as being shy and clumsy, and has almost no personality (read this: http://psa.blastmagazine.com/2008/08/16/twilight-sucks-and-not-in-a-good-way/, it dead on describes Bella. Beware of spoilers at the end though!). It seems as if all the personality traits were piled onto Edward. He went from describing himself as a 'monster', to then being described as 'Adonis-like', and then to being portrayed as a moral 'man' that just so happens to sneak into Bella's room at night. I was more than confused at that combination.

As I stated before, I originally loved the book. I fell for Edward's charm and Bella's endearing clumsiness. If I hadn't gone back and reread the book several times, I probably would have skipped over the plot holes and not noticed the character's unlikely traits. Overall, it's not the best of books, but it's not the worst I've read either (this blog shares the same perspective as I do: http://duncanheights.com/blog/?p=1582). If you want to lose yourself in another mainstream tale about vampire love, then go right ahead. But if you don't feel like wasting your time with yet another book targeted at 13 year old girls, then Twilight is definitely not the book for you.