Vacation Reading is (Usually) the Best

I just got back from vacation which, to me, means crazy amounts of reading was to be completed.  I brought along a few books and was really counting on the hotel's book exchange "library" for more reading material but was pretty disappointed by the selection.  That hasn't happened before, next time I'm bringing several books and just dealing with the extra heft in my luggage.

I'll give you a brief overview of the four books I read on my trip:

Janet Evanovich's Visions of Sugar Plums: I brought this along because it was going to be a very quick read (finished it on the plane) and so that I could give it to the hotel's book exchange on arrival.

Karen White's After the Rain:  the first book I grabbed from the exchange, not something I would typically read, but it was alright.  Basically it's a girl meets boy, complications arise (surprise!), girl tries to run away, boy still wants girl after all the drama, girl gets boy in the end.  What a summary, right?!

R.J. Anderson's Quicksilver: I've been waiting to read this and had high hopes for it after loving Ultraviolet so much.  However, the story was sadly not as gripping as the first.  This companion novel follows Tori, the girl who goes missing in the first novel, as she tries to flee the cops and doctors tracking her who ultimately want to uncover her secret.  Fortunately, the characters from the first novel appear to help keep her free. 

Matthew Quick's Silver Linings Playbook: by far my favorite read of the week.  I haven't seen the movie and really hope they didn't muck it up.  It was a very heart-warming yet thought-provoking book and I think it really lives up to all the hype.  Go read it!

World Book Night, April 23, 2013

It's that time again.  World Book Night is back!  January 23rd is the last date to submit your application to be a Book Giver so get moving.  Last year was amazing and I can't wait to do it again.  WBN is the opportunity to choose one of your favorite books from a long list and help pass them out in your community to light or non-readers.  It's such a great opportunity to meet people in your community while talking about books!  Please sign up if you haven't already. 

Defiance by C.J. Redwine

It’s been 60 days and Rachel’s father, Jared, still hasn’t returned from his latest courier mission into the Wasteland.  The Commander of the walled City-State of Baalboden declares Jared dead and announces Jared’s apprentice, Logan, as Rachel’s new Protector.  Growing up trained to fight and with a sense of independence, she is unlike any other female in Baalboden; she hardly believes she needs a Protector.  However, Rachel fully believes her father isn’t dead and sets a plan in motion to find him in the Wasteland.  Now all she must do is escape without drawing attention from the Commander. 

Rachel Cohn's Beta

Teenaged Elysia is an experimental clone, manufactured from a dead girl and predestined to be a slave for the wealthy.  After the destructive Water Wars, people (Read: the wealthy) wanted a stress-free, more luxurious life.  So they traveled to the idyllic island of Demesne (rhymes with Renesmee) where everything is controlled, including the water and air, to be euphoric.  To fill her college-aged daughter’s absence, the wife of Demesne’s Governor purchases Elysia to be a companion.  As a clone, Elysia is produced to be a soulless, emotionless being lacking in sensations in order to serve her owner better.  However, when Elysia can taste her dinner and realizes the visions she has are really her First’s memories she begins to feel frightened.  Elysia goes to great lengths to hide her emotions in fear she will be branded a Defect and sent back to the lab to be tortured.  The cliffhanger ending got me hooked but I didn’t understand or appreciate a sexually violent scene.  However, the story felt original and I’d still recommend it since I think Rachel Cohn is an amazing YA author. 

The Diviners by Libba Bray

I have been scared by a book before but never have I had a nightmare from one.  It happened within the first 100 pages of this almost 600 pager but by then I was hooked and continued on.  Evie O’Neill has a gift, although presently she only uses it to impress people at parties.  When she gets caught up in a “rumor” using her gift, she is sent off to live with her Uncle Will, curator to The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult, in New York City.  It’s 1926 and New York is filled with speakeasies and flapper girls, and Evie doesn’t really see this as quite the punishment her parents believe it to be.  The moment she steps off that train her life takes a far different path than what she had expected.  Soon after her arrival, a young woman’s body is discovered beneath the Brooklyn Bridge with mysterious brandings.  Evie’s Uncle is called to the scene to help decipher the occult symbols and Evie discovers that her party trick gift can be far more useful.  She is determined to help track down the killer before more dead bodies surface.  The story follows many others with certain gifts and by the end Bray has set the stage for far more things to come. 

Seth Casteel's Underwater Dogs

Who doesn’t love lively, up-close photographs of adorable faced dogs? Casteel takes it several steps further by photographing dogs from an uncharted and unexpected perspective: underwater.  Dogs are baited with colorful tennis balls to dive into pools headfirst and their snouts are then snapped from beneath the surface.  Underwater Dogs is a serious mood booster.  I can’t wait to chuck my dog into a pool.