The Diviners

"Naughty John, Naughty John
Does his work with his apron on..."

While reading The Diviners, this will get under your skin.  Fast.

The diviners are people with special psychic powers - healing, prophetic, invisibility, etc. - all existing in Prohibition-era New York.  The first in a series, this novel focuses primarily on Evie, a young woman who can read a person's past through their objects.  While other diviners are mentioned and play bit roles in the plot, it's really Evie's story.  Using her power resulted in scandal in her small town home, so she is sent to NY to stay with and help her uncle with his occult museum.  After a series of occult-based murders occur, they are enlisted to help with the case.

This Libba Bray novel is chock full of suspense. As the reader, you are granted a front row seat to the gruesome attacks from the victims' perspectives.  You get to experience not only their confusion and ultimate fear, but the fear of Evie and the other diviners as they put the puzzle pieces together, bit by bit.

It's a very long novel, which can be a pain (I mean this literally when you drag it to work with you on a daily basis), but not because I think teens are turned off by long works. As I found out at the end of the novel, this is the first of a series and the characters introduced here will have more developed roles in the future books.  But at times their presence seems to drag out the main focus of this novel and left me wondering if it was exposition that could have waited until the sequels.

Regardless, the characterization is strong, the action suspenseful, and the writing is engaging and very clearly well-researched.  I was hesitant going into this novel because I had previously tried reading Bray's Going Bovine and couldn't bring myself to finish.  But this novel kept me interested from start to end. I highly recommend this novel for people who like well-developed thrillers and mysteries and/or people looking for suspense, paranormal plots, or historical fiction.  While the novel (and probably series as a whole) has many mystery elements, it's not a typical whodunnit type of thriller, so be wary of giving this out to someone looking for a fast mystery (the almost 600 pages will also probably clue the reader into it not being a fast mystery).

Gone Girl

It's hard to describe Gone Girl without revealing a major spoiler, however, that spoiler was part of a book blurb I read prior to reading this novel so I'm going to say it anyway.  I'll block it out so you can look at it at your own discretion : SHE ISN'T DEAD, SHE RAN AWAY AND STAGED EVERYTHING.

There.

Gone Girl is the story of a husband, Nick, and wife, Amy, who would seemingly be on the fast track to divorce city if Amy hadn't suddenly gone missing.  Soon it is widely suspected that Amy was murdered at the hands of Nick.  Readers follow the story through alternating chapters of Nick's narration and Amy's diary entries (and later narration), two voices clashing against one another to tell their tales of courtship and marriage and defend their past choices.

I'll be honest. For about a fourth of the book I completely despised it.  I kept thinking that the novel was only reaffirming my love for children's and young adult novels (as you know, that's all I typically read these days), because this novel is just dripping with passive aggressive attacks and pathological blame for parents, family, wives, friends, EVERYONE. No one took responsibility for actions.  It also has a healthy helping of the typical "there's no hope for future happiness now that I'm almost a middle-aged adult" tone that plagues adult fiction (in my opinion).  I hated it.  But my friend Bridget had insisted I drop everything and read this novel (which I didn't do, sorry Bridget!), and Lord knows she has read every YA book I've insisted she read (thanks Bridget!), so I kept on going.

I'M SO GLAD I DID.

Because then the twist happens and makes it totally worth it.  You find out that maybe Nick isn't the most deplorable character of the novel (he's still terrible - an incredibly misogynistic and passive aggressive man) and it turns into quite a thrill to see who will come out on top as the most psychopathic and who will get knocked down in the process.  Post-twist, the passive aggressiveness and blaming still exist in large quantities, but become much more palatable as they play a larger role in the plot.

I will admit that some of the language got tiresome, but that's a personal taste reflective of my preference for children's and YA lit (although they can get colorful with the language too). Was it all necessary to the plot? Mostly, so I'll let it slide.

All in all, extraordinarily developed characters and unreliable narration make Gone Girl a lot more than your standard thriller novel.  If you haven't already read it, do what Bridget advised me to earlier: drop everything and read it now.

Code Name Verity

The other day I was thinking of how I would describe this novel.  That led to me dreaming about doing a review of this sung to the tune of "Super Bass" by Nicki Minaj: This one is for the girls with the history fix/turn pages and see truth and lies mix.  Unfortunately (read fortunately) that's all I can remember. What's odd is that I didn't even like this novel that much, so I'm not sure why I'm dreaming up reviews.

A pilot (Maddie) and a spy (Queenie), best friends during WWII, crash during a mission and the spy is captured by Nazis. Tortured as a prisoner of war, she agrees to betray the British war effort.  The novel is her confession (and often apology to her side) about what she knows.

I can see why Elizabeth Wein's Code Name Verity receives a great deal of praise (a 2012 Printz Honor book for starters), but it didn't grab me the way I had hoped.  Without spoiling the novel, there is a twist to events, but it comes far too late in the game.  As the Queenie entries progress, they start to feel repetitive. Does it make sense after the fact? Yes, but for me it tended to drag on enough that I was openly stating "come onnnnn" to the novel as I was reading.

But it is adventurous, clearly researched historical fiction with an element of girl power, so it definitely has an audience out there amongst young adults.

Boston

Living in the midst of the heartache and craziness that has been Boston, I couldn't bring myself to blog anything this week.  But tonight I'm so thankful that law enforcement officials were able to bring the remaining suspect into custody and bring this mess closer to an end.  Here's to all the men and women who keep us safe!

P.S. Celebrate safely! I think the Boston PD deserve a break!

Wonder

Auggie was born disfigured as the result of a medical abnormality, forcing him to undergo numerous surgeries and often leaving him physically ill.  His face is deformed to the extent of causing extreme discomfort when around strangers. As such, he has been home-schooled his entire life.  But his parents believe it is time for him to interact with other people and enroll him in school.  Wonder is the story of Auggie's adjustment to "normal" life and the reactions of his family, friends, and schoolmates.

The book begins with Auggie's perspective and almost right off the bat he tells the reader that he isn't going to describe his appearance.  Granted, from other perspectives we get some semblance of what he looks like, but that denial of information made me immediately love this novel.  It's the story of what happens to him, not what he looks like.  While what he looks like obviously impacts what happens to him, the omission defines the focus as his journey.

A student pointed out to me that she loved that the language was simple, but that the it carried deeper meaning.  I agreed.  The innocent 5th grade voices, and even the older voices of Auggie's sister and her boyfriend, reveal deeper truths about the world in which they live.

This book has been added to my permanent list of quick pick books to recommend.  Go read it.  Now.

March Madness: The Winner

And the YA Series March Madness winner is unsurprisingly:

Needless to say, I'm thrilled with the outcome.  Mr. Potter won't compete in next year's tournament, essentially guaranteeing a Hunger Games victory in 2014. 

Every Day

Every day, "A" wakes up in the body of another teenager.  Never in the same body twice, "A" lives each day as someone else, filing through memories to pass with friends and family, never forming attachments or making wild decisions that will ruin lives.  Then "A" falls in love with Rhiannon and that lifestyle changes.  He finds himself doing whatever possible to get to "A," ultimately causing Nathan, one of his "stolen identities," so to speak, to catch on to the situation.  "A" has to make the choice either to go back to his detached way of life, or continue to disrupt countless lives for his first taste of his own happiness.

I did like the juxtaposition of "A" chasing an unrealistic dream alongside Nathan chasing the answers to his conundrum.  Nathan can't let go of the idea that a demon is targeting and possessing helpless souls just like "A" can't let go of his need to chase Rhiannon and keep her in his life.  However, my major gripe with this David Levithan novel was that it didn't establish it's purpose clear enough until late in the book. The awkwardly placed interjections about "A's" reactions to Rhiannon not being okay with being physical with a girl led me to believe that this book would be about LGBT rights. The book's premise would have made for an interesting exploration of these issues. It ended up though, being about not holding onto and obsessing over things that are unattainable. There's a difference between chasing dreams and chasing outcomes that hurt you and others. As a result, the repeated inclusions of A's faulting Rhiannon for her aversion felt forced.

All in all, I thought it was a quick, interesting novel that would make a great recommendation for a teen looking for more of a dramatic, insightful read.

March Madness Round 4

It's official!!!! It's a Hunger Games vs. Harry Potter showdown!!!

We, the librarians, are happy about this. Why? Well for starters because it's two well-written, popular series going against each other. But it's also an older series against a modern series and it shows how long-lasting good quality book series can hold up over time. I know I'm being a hypocrite here because I often voice my distaste for the reverence that the "classics" receive, but that's more of a distaste for relying on them for education. It is important because it means that these books are holding up in popularity despite the fact that kids can now just watch all of the books in movie form. That is the power of a well-written book, people.

Now, the students are not happy about this. There have been many complaints about how it's impossible to choose which series they like more. They love Harry, but they love so many others as well. Hunger Games has actually received the majority of the votes in the past 2 rounds. Harry held strong over Percy Jackson and the Heroes of Olympus, but those books had more weight in the voting. There might be an upset in this round, but I'm not worried. Overhearing the students complain about the difficulty proves to me that they love both.

Also, my bracket may sway them towards Harry Potter without them realizing. A student pointed out to me that the bracket color choices are clearly Gryffindor propaganda! Oops :)

Titanic: Voices From the Disaster

As part of my quest to read more nonfiction, I picked up this award-winning book about the Titanic.  For some reason, I expected it to read like the James Cameron movie, and I was surprised the majority of the book concerned itself with the crash and the sinking.  But I'm kind of an idiot because the title obviously makes it clear that it's about the disaster angle and not the what happened before fun.

Anywayyyy, the text isn't pedantic, helping to make the information easy to digest, a quality always appreciated amongst the younger set (and older, let's be honest).  It's always interesting to learn about all the safety regulations that went into effect as a result of the tragedy, but you can't help but read this book and wonder how no one had the common sense to think of these things beforehand.  Also, it's obviously heartbreaking at times when you read about the tales of families ripped apart and selfish rich men taking the spots of the designated women and children (oh how times have changed...).

I felt like I had already been exposed to the majority of the information via past textbooks.  Also, the "Unsinkable" Molly Brown is only mentioned TWICE in passing.  That is shameful, in my opinion.

However, the book is definitely worth picking up for the sake of the amazing photos and images. For the teens and children who didn't experience the 1997 film that my generation was inundated with, I think Voices from the Disaster will prove to be a great nonfiction quick pick or school resource.

Top Ten Tuesday: 2013 Spring TBR List

So many books. SO MANY BOOKS.  Here's my top ten of books to read this spring:

Top Ten Books To Be Read This Spring:

1. Game, by Barry Lyga

It's the sequel to I Hunt Killers and it's coming out next month. CANNOT WAIT.

2. The Madness Underneath, by Maureen Johnson

Another sequel, this one to The Name of the Star.  Also CANNOT WAIT

3. The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame

It is the next on #TheList according to my randomly generated list.

4. The Diviners, by Libba Bray

I tried reading Going Bovine once, but it's about 1000 pages long (I exaggerate) and I had only one day to read it (it was for class and writing the 3 papers that were also due in that two day span took major precedent) and I couldn't quite make it through (solid effort though).  The Diviners is on the Hub Reading Challenge, so I'll give it a whirl.

5. Legend, by Marie Wu

It's checked out already and sitting on my shelf waiting for me to finally get through the books I checked out prior to it.

 6. Wonder, by R.J. Palacio

A few weeks ago, I put a bunch of ebooks on hold and they've, of course, all come in this week.  Now I'm rushing to get through them all in the 2 week period.  This is one of those books.

7. Wonderstruck, by Brian Selznick

I'm head over heels in love with The Invention of Hugo Cabret, so it's kind of ridiculous that I haven't read this book yet.

8. Janie Face to Face, by Caroline B. Cooney

CBC was one of my all time favorite YA authors growing up and the Janie series was my second favorite of her works (Twenty Pageants Later holds the top spot for anyone who's wondering).  When I saw that a 5th book in the series came out, my mind was blown.

9. Son, by Lois Lowry

Same as above.  As someone who pretty recently found out that The Giver was the first in a series, I finally finished Gathering Blue and The Messenger, allowing me to finally read Son.

10. Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn

I own it, so I may as well read it this Spring.  I just have to work through the mountain of library books with due dates.

More awesome books to be read at The Broke and the Bookish!