Friday, September 26, 2008

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist ~ Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
Knopf Books for Young Readers
(August 28, 2008)
192 Pages
$8.99 (paperback)
$7.99 (movie tie-in cover)


Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist begins with Nick, on stage with his band, catching sight of his ex Tris in the crowd. She's there with someone new so when he sees her coming towards him, he asks a girl he's never met before to be his five minute girlfriend.

That girl is Norah who also has a history with Tris and an ex of her own and so begins the tale of Nick and Norah. Their story is told through a music filled night in Manhattan with different clubs, characters, friends, bands, and bits of their lives thrown into the mix.

First let me just say how much I really wanted to love this book. I really did.

But I didn't. I still loved the storyline, for the most part, but the writing style just didn't work for me. Aside from the fact that there were maybe 600 'fuck's in the 192 page book that I found more distracting than necessary, I didn't even want to finish the book in the middle. I liked the Norah chapters better than the Nick chapters--which I suppose makes sense with a cowritten book--but I felt like they were trying to hard at times. Things that would work for a sentence go on for a paragraph or page(s) and got annoying.

There were also some continuity problems--early on Norah told Nick her friends name at least two or three times (and she was right there with them) and then later on when she said 'Caroline so and so' he had no idea who Caroline was....For spoilery reasons I can't explain exactly but it seemed strange.

And in Chapter 13/14, it seemed like Levithan created a continuity problem and then Cohn (through Norah) yelled at him for it...and sort of got the story (and writing) back on track. While I enjoyed the story and how it was written more after that, having a character's name randomly changed two thirds of the way through a book with a confusing exchange, isn't something I enjoy.

I enjoyed the story of this book so I plan on seeing the movie (which does look different in at least a few ways...) but I plan on finding Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List )the other book the two authors wrote together) from the library or elsewhere for free because I'm not buying it.

I'm not sure what to rate this book because the writing style might just be a personal preference that someone else will love and the storyline was good...but there were some continuity errors/goofs...

6/10 because while I couldn't stand the writing style, I'll try to rate it on the plot...I tried a 7 but I just couldn't, sorry

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

MySpace

Like South African snow in July... (Jack Cafferty would like you to know G W Bush couldn't even sell snow in S Africa in July....only South Africa's in the Southern hemisphere so July's the middle of the winter so while it might not be freezing, it's not exactly hot...)

And that has nothing to do with my post except I wanted to share it ;)


I'm posting my reviews at MySpace now as well--have been for a little while actually but now my page has a snazzy url so I'm sharing the info: http://myspace.com/thebookspot

Thank you.


And if you'd be willing to share either my Blogger or MySpace link with anyone, I'd love you forever :)

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty ~ Jody Gehrman

Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty
Dial
(April, 17 2008)
256 Pages
$16.99 (hardcover)
Amazon


Triple Shot Betty is about Geena and her quest for the perfect summer with her best friend Amber and her cousin cum best friend Hero (their mother's liked Shakespeare just a wee bit). The only problem is that right away Hero (who's been away at boarding school) and Amber can't stand each other. Just like that Geena's dreams go out the window and she's stuck refereeing while they all work at the same teeny, tiny coffee shop and mourning her lost hours of girly bonding.

That's about all I can say about the book without giving away things that happen much, much later in the book except to maybe add that some boys (four or so) are thrown in the mix.

I've wanted to read this book for a while and ended up getting it at the library (my libraries have so few YA books t's an accomplishment) and I'm glad I did because I'm not sure I would buy this book. About 2/3 to 3/4 of the book if taken up by general tales of Geena's summer and for a long while I wondered if this was just going to be a mediocre tale of three girls' summer and the quest to solve their boy problems.

Then way into the book (I honestly think it was maybe 40 pages from the end?), the whole plot point mentioned on the jacket flap (not mentioning it here b/c I think it's kind of spoiler--check Amazon if you want to know it) showed up. At that point it seemed almost like that was thrown in to make this book have 'something' in the plot.

For me, this book just sort of...happened. It was an alright book but I felt like there could have been so much more to it and maybe some reworking would have done it well (like making more out/expanding the last 1/4 of the book or deciding to make it about Geena, Hero, & Amber and working that more). It felt like the book couldn't decide what story it was trying to tell so it half told two of them...

I, personally, wouldn't recommend this book but a lot of other people seemed to really like it, so you can find some of their reviews if you'd like.

5/10

Such a Pretty Girl ~ Laura Wiess

Such a Pretty Girl
MTV Books
(January 2, 2007)
224 Pages*
$12.00 (paperback)
as a Bargain Book @ Amazon now for $4.99
Amazon

Such a Pretty Girl is one of those books where the length means you could finish it in one sitting (maybe a kind of long one....) but the content makes you take some breaks. Then again, you also want to finish it quickly so that you can know the end and so that it won't be running around in your head allowing you to come up with the worst possible outcomes...

Meredith, the main character in Pretty Girl, saw her father go to jail three years ago (for abusing her and others)...Only now he's out. Meredith's only fifteen which means she's still at home and not long gone like she had pallend to be after the nine years they said she would be safe from her father.

He's on parole and only supposed to have suprvised visits (if any) with Mer, but her mother believes this is the time for a perfect, happy family reunion and has found her father a condo in the same complex as Meredith and her mother. Thus, the stage is set for Such a Pretty Girl and Meredith's journey through this new life with her father back, her mother happy about it, and her finding away to avoid her father's advances.

Laura Wiess has told a tragic story with a beautiful central character, amazing (both in their sincerity, uniqueness, &, in the case of her mother, insanity) secondary characters any of whom I would gladly read a book about...The stories between Mer and her mother, her mother and her father, Mer and her father, & Mer and her friends around the condo are all complicated, complex, realistic, heartbreaking, nailbiting, and amazing. I wanted to scream at her mother, thank **(&)# (not saying who but if you read it I think you'll know), hug Meredith, and scream myself at certain times because of how it seemed the story was going to go.

This book was one that it's hard to say I loved but only the subject matter stops you from 'loving' it...it was a truly magnificent book though and I found myself connecting with the characters and while the book itself wasn't political, I found myself angered again that I live in a state that has made abortions for minors legal only with parental consent and thinking about the politics that do let someone sentenced to nine years (esp for what Meredith's father was sentenced for) out in a third of that.

I think that everyone should read Such a Pretty Girl and that school's should actually use it because so many schools don't talk about sexual abuse and this might open a discussion or at least give someone the ipetus they need to talk.

10/10 for this book


RAINN.org for information, links, how to get help, & how to help others (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network); 1.800.656.HOPE (National Sexual Assault Hotline), and there are always parents, teachers (who will know how to report any sexual abuse), pastors, or the hospital...

*my last book reviewed (Silver Kiss) was 224 pages, too...I seem to have a thing for reviewing/reading bookswith the same number of pages, in a row

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Status

I know I keep saying that reviews are coming....and they don't. Sadly, though, I've been sick for a while (like 3 plus-ish weeks now) with some of my really bad migraines...first it was the tropical storms and hurricanes and now I think it's just aftermath of being so sick then that's getting me now...or something.

Anyhow, I'm still going to try for posting some reviews soon, I promise.

It's making me sad not doing things :(

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Book Covers...

I have a sort of obsession with book covers and have been known to buy a book just because it has a pretty cover... But what about when they use they same (or very, very, very similar) photo for different covers?














Oxford Up Children's 2006 & Candlewick 2007














Avon A 2006 & Candlewick 2007


edit: adding these two:













Little, Brown Young Readers Feb 1, 2009 & St Martin's Griffin Feb 3, 2009

(how one's 2 day's after the other, I don't know...)











Harvest Books 2007 & Bloomsbury USA Children's Books 2008

I know those last two aren't the same photos, but I found it interesting how similar they are...If anyone has any other covers that are the same/similar, I'd love to see them or hear what you think about these.



I also think it's interesting that two of these are Candlewick books--maybe they're just the two I've seen/noticed, maybe not. (And the Ivy cover is the import cover, the US one is different).

(The Tantalize hardcover is actually redder and the paperback is actually from 2008, so I sort of combined years/covers...oops.)

(On either the Mad Girls or Confessions cover, the dress is pink--I own both of them and know that much but can't remember which one for sure.)

Actual reviews coming when I'm not sick :[

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Welcome to September!

yes, I am aware that September started just about a week ago, but when tropical storms are making you freakishly sick for the entire month (so far), things get late...

To start off the month:



September Books I Want





Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott
Skinned by Robin Wasserman
Sucks to be Me by Kimberly Pauley




Untamed: House of Night Book 4 by Kristin & PC Cast
Wide Awake by David Levithan
Vampire High by Douglas Rees




Books Added to my Wishlist in September*



Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell**
Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston
You Had Me at Halo by Amanda Ashby


Night World 2 & 3 by LJ Smith
Swimming Without a Net by MaryJanice Davison



I Know It's Over by CK Kelly Martin
Made in the USA by Billie Letts
Switch by Carol Snow




Succubus Dreams by Richelle Mead






Books to be Reviewed in September

Book of Luke by Jenny O'Connell
Sleeping with the Fishes by MaryJanice Davison
Peeps by Scott Westerfeld
All American Girl
by Meg Cabot
Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty
by Jody Gehrman

Books to Read in September

Kiss Me, Kill Me by Lauren Henderson
Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott
Wicked Game by Jeri Smith-Ready
I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert
The Debs by Susan McBride


*and late August
**(this one's kind of a cheat-I've wanted it for a while, but never apparently actually stuck it on that lovely Amazon list)



Book Trailer Friday [@RandomHouse @TransworldBooks]

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