read 25 books in 2008

I liked the he said/she said style of this book, a story about teen angst and first “real” love.

From Amazon.com
From The Washington Post
Sara is searching for something real. It’s the start of senior year, and the brainy and beautiful teen is determined that this will be the year she finds “it” – that elusive little thing called love. She’s been crushing all summer on Dave, who asked for her phone number at the end of junior year. She’s been waiting for his call for months, stressing about her search not for just any boyfriend but the one who truly gets her, understands that she must make it into New York University, grasps the whacked-out relationship she has with her mom. She’s got all her hopes wrapped up in Dave, not knowing that Tobey – the slacker guy from art class who seems to care only about his band—has spent countless hours crafting a plan to win her over.

So it goes in When It Happens (Viking, 17.99), Susane Colasanti’s debut novel, which successfully captures the angst and exhilaration that come with new love. Colasanti’s tale unfolds in a “she said/he said” style, with chapters that tell the story from the viewpoint of each main character. Two sets of typefaces – one for Sara’s side, another for Tobey’s – make it easy to track who’s talking.

That Colasanti, a public high school teacher in New York City, gets what high school is like is evident. Film and music references are sprinkled throughout her text, from Sara’s favorite movie (“Say Anything”) to a band (R.E.M.) she’s heard of but never listened to until Tobey. Mentions of drugs, sex, eating disorders and the social pressures teens face aren’t overdone, and the dialogue is breezy and realistic (including a few gratuitous f-bombs and a URL to a porn site). Even Colasanti’s description about getting dressed for gym is legit: “First I sniff the shirt that’s in my locker to make sure it doesn’t smell too bad. Even if it does, I still have to wear it. But then I know not to stand too close to anyone.”

Colasanti obviously remembers the kind of love that makes your insides churn, belly flips and all. Her take on young romance is insightful, fresh and fun, her characters fully formed and likable. Knowing how the book will end hardly matters, for When It Happens is sort of like high school itself: The outcome may be predictable, but what’s really important is what happens along the way.

Debra Leithauser, editor of The Post’s Sunday Source

I loved this book. The topic is a bit scary, but it truly helps you see how a small action can impact another’s life; how just being nice to a person can make a difference; how a person gets to the point of thinking about suicide.

In high school, like most teens, I contemplated it. Fortunately, I knew I always had my mom and I could never do something like that to her. And as most of us know, our lives go through phases…and we can get through it. We learn that it’s not the end of the world if…a boy doesn’t return our affections; if we get a bad grade on a test; if our friends betray us.

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker-his classmate and crush-who committed suicide two weeks earlier. On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out how he made the list.

Through Hannah and Clay’s dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.

Only 4 more to go…I think I can. I think I can!

Wasn’t sure I’d like this book, but it was a “recommended read” from my Amazon.com suggestions. With any short stories book, there will be some stories that you connect with and some you don’t. I loved a few of them, laughed out loud at a couple, hated a couple, and just didn’t “get” one of them.

It’s not for everyone, but if you want to get a feeling for how others felt about their prom or to see how your own may not have been as bad as someone else’s, this book is it! It made me realize that my crazy prom was not as crazy as I had thought. It was a nice trip back down memory lane.

From Amazon.com
In a collaboration that brings together an impressive array of 21 authors, Levithan and Ehrenhaft have produced a collection worthy of exploration. Ranging from sad to funny to truly disastrous, these memorable stories mark that oh-so-important right of passage for many teenagers. Starting with dress-hating, heel-hating, bra-hating Emilie in Elizabeth Craft’s You Are a Prom Queen, Dance Dance Dance; moving on to Daniel Ehrenhaft’s Better Be Good to Me, in which aging Zack remembers his prom and being in love with his best friend’s girlfriend; and ending with rebel chicks Maggie and Carly, who throw the ultimate anti-prom party in John Green’s The Great American Morp, readers are drawn into a wide cross section of prom nights from both male and female perspectives. A celebration of all that is good, bad, and sometimes unforgettable about these events, this fast-paced but carefully strung anthology speaks of pink dresses, tuxedos, first kisses, unrequited love, and the thrill of taking love to its ultimate climax. Clever writing featuring many unexpected twists and turns, as well as a stunning display of each writer’s razor-sharp wit, makes this an enjoyable read. Older teens will flock to this book, which undoubtedly features some of the best teen fiction writers of our era.–Caryl Soriano, New York Public Library

Gripping story, easy to read. I finished this in one day.

From Amazon.com
Werlin tackles the topic of child abuse with grace and insight. Narrated by 17-year-old Matt as a letter to his youngest sister, Emmy, The Rules of Survival is his effort to come to terms with the vicious treatment he and his two sisters suffered at the hands of Nikki, their beautiful and unpredictable mother. One of Matt’s early memories involves getting up during the night to sneak a cookie back to bed and being caught by his mother. Giggling and yelling Cookie thief, she holds a knife to his throat, cutting him just a little bit to teach him not to steal. As much as he fears her manic highs and lows, his greater concern as he grows older is for the safety of his sisters. He and Callie shield Emmy as much as possible from Nikki’s volatile moods. Compounding the problem are the adults in their lives–their father and their aunt–who recognize Nikki’s instability but find it easier to look the other way. When Nikki’s ex-boyfriend Murdoch befriends the children, they want to believe that a more normal future is possible, but are afraid of being disappointed by an adult yet again. The characters captivate readers from the beginning, and short, terse chapters move the plot along with an intensity that will appeal to seasoned Werlin fans and reluctant readers alike. Teens will empathize with these siblings and the secrets they keep in this psychological horror story.–Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

I’ve been on a young adult fiction fix. This book received recognition as a National Book Award Finalist. It is well written and heartfelt. :) For specific info about the book, read on:

From Amazon.com
Review by Kelly Herold
Imagine you made a mistake as a teenager. A big mistake. Now imagine you made this mistake in a small town when you were thirteen years old.

Sara Zarr’s moving “Story of a Girl” tells just this tale from the point of view of sixteen-year-old Deanna Lambert. At age 13, Deanna was caught “in the act” with her older brother’s best friend. By her father. Oh, and Deanna and the boy were in a parked car.

Small towns being what they are, it takes only a day for Deanna’s story to spread throughout Pacifica. From that moment on Deanna is the “school sl*t” (despite the fact she’s avoided boys since the incident) and at home life isn’t much better. Dad-nearly three years later-has yet to recover from finding his daughter in a car with a seventeen-year-old boy and he barely talks to Deanna.

“Story of a Girl” opens on the final day of Deanna’s sophomore year. She’s feeling stuck-in her small town, in her reputation, and in her family. Zarr does a great job in showing the depression-economic and emotional-of a place down on its luck. Deanna’s only job option is a rundown pizza joint. Her parents professional lives have been downsized-Mom working in a Mervyns and Dad in an auto parts supply store. Deanna’s much-loved older brother lives in the basement with his new wife and baby. Deanna’s brother and his wife work in the grocery store. With everyone working retail hours, no one is home at the same time and the house is sliding into disrepair.

Deanna dreams of escape—of saving her money and moving out with her brother and his family. But escape is hard to come by when you are sixteen and live in a small town. Instead, Deanna must come to terms with what happened and forgive herself and others. Over the course of just this one summer, Deanna, with a few mistakes along the way, finds peace with herself, her reputation, her town, and her family. It’s a beautiful gem of a book, one that will stay with me forever.

I am reading more young adult novels..

Spoiler alert: Distubing story from the point of view of the date rapist. He did not take responsibility fir his actions and continued to state how this was a mistake and that he loved her.

Enjoyed this book. I’m working at the school library and thought I should read more of the young adult fiction…so I can advise the students a bit better. :)

While it is young adult fiction, I do believe that adults would enjoy this book as well. An engaging, well-written novel about the life of a 13 year old girl in India sold into prostitution.

Amazon.com info…
From Booklist
Lakshmi, 13, knows nothing about the world beyond her village shack in the Himalayas of Nepal, and when her family loses the little it has in a monsoon, she grabs a chance to work as a maid in the city so she can send money back home. What she doesn’t know is that her stepfather has sold her into prostitution. She ends up in a brothel far across the border in the slums of Calcutta, locked up, beaten, starved, drugged, raped, “torn and bleeding,” until she submits. In beautiful clear prose and free verse that remains true to the child’s viewpoint, first-person, present-tense vignettes fill in Lakshmi’s story. The brutality and cruelty are ever present (“I have been beaten here, / locked away, / violated a hundred times / and a hundred times more”), but not sensationalized. An unexpected act of kindness is heartbreaking (“I do not know a word / big enough to hold my sadness”). One haunting chapter brings home the truth of “Two Worlds”: the workers love watching The Bold and the Beautifulon TV though in the real world, the world they know, a desperate prostitute may be approached to sell her own child. An unforgettable account of sexual slavery as it exists now. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Definitely recommend.

Amazon.com Review
“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”
—Randy Pausch

A lot of professors give talks titled “The Last Lecture.” Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can’t help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?

When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn’t have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave-”Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”-wasn’t about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because “time is all you have…and you may find one day that you have less than you think”). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.

In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.

From amazon.com
From Publishers Weekly
On their 18th wedding anniversary, in 2003, Richard Carlson (author of the bestselling Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff) presented his wife, Kristine, with a short manuscript called An Hour to Live. He imagines he has an hour to live and poses questions originally asked by spiritual guide and author Stephen Levine: whom would you call? what would you say? and why are you waiting? Uncannily, the text foreshadowed Carlson’s death three years later, at age 45, of a pulmonary embolism. Though he had no chance to make that last phone call, his wife (and the reader) already knows his feelings for her and their children. We also know what was important to him, which boils down to the old chestnut: no one, on their deathbed, ever wishes they’d spent more time at the office. Included in the book is Kristine’s tribute to Richard, called An Hour to Love. Both pieces (only 50 pages and padded with Richard’s favorite poem and blank pages for the reader’s own answer to the key question) are heartfelt—and oddly unengaging. They tell the reader how wonderful the Carlsons’ marriage was, but don’t show why. We are left with a lovely ideal—too ideal for readers to relate to. (Jan. 15)

At times, this book was LAUGH-OUT-LOUD hilarious. The things this girl does reminds me of my early college days. Like most chick-lit books, it was predictable in some ways…but she definitely switched it up and made you wonder if your guess was right…

Easy to read. Finished it in 2 days.

From amazon.com
Product Description
Anything can look perfect…on paper. When her fiancé calls off their wedding at the last minute, Waverly Bryson wonders if her life will ever turn out the way she thought it would…or should. Her high-powered job in sports PR? Not so perfect. Her relationship with her dad? Far from it. Her perfect marriage? Enough said. Perfect…on Paper is a humorous tale of Waverly’s efforts to cobble the pieces of a broken yesterday into a brand new tomorrow. What does the future have in store for her? Will she finally find what she’s looking for? *Her dates? Cringe-inducing at times, definitely entertaining *Her friends? Often amused, definitely supportive *Her new crush? Possibly intrigued, definitely a catch *The results? Hardly perfect, definitely just right