14 Books for 2014

The other night I was sleep-deprived and stressed (HAHA that's every night!) and I decided to pick 14 books from my shelf that I am required to read this year.  My shelves are a mixture of young adult literature, classical literature, adult literature and non-fiction memoirs and histories. In order to keep this balance, I chose a couple books from each genera.  Here are my choices.

Adult Literature

I Love You, Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle

Denis Cooverman wanted to say something really important in his high school graduation speech.  So, in front of his 512 classmates and their 3,000 relatives, he announced: "I love you, Beth Cooper." It would have been such a sweet, romantic moment.  Except that Beth, the head cheerleader, has only the vaguest idea who Denis is.  And Denis, the captain of the debate team, is so far out of her league he is barely even the same species.  And then there's Kevin, Beth's remarkably large boyfriend, who's in town on furlough from the United States Army. Complications ensue.

Written by a former writer for The Simpsons, this novel is sure to be hilarious.  It's also a fitting read as I will be graduating as well in a couple months.  Plus, after I read it, I can watch the movie starring Jason Segal.

Revolting Youth: The Further Journals of Nick Twisp by Cd Payne

In the wry and subversive further journals of Nick Twisp, we reunite with America's most literate teen diarist as he accidentally ignites criminal mayhem, seeks union with his love, Sheeni Saunders, and still has to live as a girl to avoid the police - an absolute must-read for all fans of the oddball humor of Youth In Revolt.

Youth In Revolt was one of the first books I read upon becoming a teenager and I love it.  It was amazing and taught me so much about the male psyche!  I never knew there was a sequel until about a year ago and can't believe I haven't read it yet.  I'm incredibly excited to reunite with Nick.

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

Rob is a pop music junkie who runs his own semi-failing record store.  His girlfriend, Laura, has just life him for the guy upstairs, and Rob is both miserable and relieved.  After all, could he have spent his life with someone who has a bad record collection? Rob seeks refuge in the company of the offbeat clerks at this store, who endlessly review their top five films, top five Elvis Costello songs, top five episodes of Cheers.  Rob tries dating a singer whose rendition of "Baby, I Love Your Way" makes him cry.  But maybe it's just that he's always wanted to sleep with someone who has a record contract. Then he sees Laura again.  And Rob begins to thing (awful as it sounds) that life as in episode of thirtysomething, with all the kids and marriages and barbecues and k.d. lang CDs that this implies, might not be so bad.

High Fidelity starring John Cusack is one of my all-time favorite films and when I learned it was adapted from a book, I had to check it out.  It will be interesting to see the differences between the two and which I will enjoy more.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Richard Mayhew is a young man with a good heart and an ordinary life, which is changed forever when he stops to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk.  His small act of kindness propels him into a world he never dreamed existed.  There are people who fall through the cracks, and Richard has become one of them.  And me must learn to survive in this city of shadows and darkness, monsters and saints, murderers and angels, if he is ever to return to the London that he knew.

I have read two of Gaiman's books before, The Ocean at the End of the Lane and American Gods, and found his mixture of fantasy and reality deeply engaging and entertaining.  On top of that, Gaiman is an amazing writer who takes the reader on a journey though a fantastical realm through the eyes of the most average characters.

Classic Literature 

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

At the heart of Catch-22 resides the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero endlessly inventive in his schemes to save his skin from the horrible chances of war.  His efforts are perfectly understandable because as he furiously scrambles, thousands of people he hasn't even met are trying to kill him.  His problem is Colonel Cathcart, who keeps raising the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service.  Yet if Yossarian makes any attempts to excuse himself from the perilous missions that he is committed to flying, he is trapped by the Great Loyalty Oath Crusade, the hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule from which the book takes its title: a man is considered insane if he is willing to continue to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes the necessary formal request to be relieved of such missions, the very act of making the request proves that he is sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.  Catch-22 is a microcosm of the twentieth-century world as it might look to someone dangerously sane.

Catch-22 is one of those books everyone has read in high school which I will miss out on due to my choice to attend a charter school. Therefore, I feel the need to read this book to become a part of the collective consciousness in the United States.   Prior to writing the previous paragraph, I had no idea what this novel was about and now I'm intrigued and excited about starting it!

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

At once naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath is perhaps the most American of American classics.  Although it follows the movement of thousands of men and women and the transformation of an entire nation during the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s, The Grapes of Wrath is also the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads, who are driven off their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. From their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of this new America, Steinbeck creates a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, tragic but ultimately stirring in its insistence on human dignity.

I recently read Steinbeck's East of Eden in class and, while I enjoyed the writing and characters, found it lacking in symbolism and deeper meaning.  When talking to my English teacher about this problem, he suggested I try The Grapes of Wrath as people usually like one of the two and dislike the other.  I am currently about 60 pages into The Grapes of Wrath and liking its subtly and characters much more than East of Eden.

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky (translated by Pevear and Volokhonsky)

After his great portrayal of a guilty man in Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky set out in The Idiot to portray a man of pure innocence.  The twenty-six-year-old Prince Myshkin, following a stay of several years in a Swiss sanatorium, returns to Russia to collect an inheritance and "be among people." Even before he reaches home he meets the dark Rogozhin, a rich merchant's son whose obsession with the beautiful Nastasya Filippovna eventually draws all three of them into a tragic denouement.  In Petersburg, the prince finds himself a stranger in a society obsessed with money, power and manipulation.  Scandal escalates to murder as Dostoevsky traces the surprising effects of this "positively beautiful man" on the people around him, leading to a final scene that is one of the most powerful in all of world history.

I love Russian literature.  I could read Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and Chekov for days and have frequently. However, the main reason I picked up The Idiot is that for the past two years I have had a giant Russian novel assigned as summer reading at my school and loved reading these works.  The Idiot will serve as my choice to continue this reading assignment alone this summer.  I chose The Idiot as I read The Brothers Karamazov last year and am interested in learning more about Dostoevsky's image of a perfect man which I am told he portrays in The Idiot.

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

During three weeks in 1951, Jack Kerouac wrote the first draft of On the Road - typed as a long, single-spaced paragraph on eight sheets of tracing paper, which he taped together to from a scroll. Representing the identifiable point at which his vision and narrative voice first came together in  sustained burst of creative energy, this scroll is the "uncut" version of Kerouac's masterpiece - rougher, wilder, and more sexually explicit than the edited work that appeared in 1957.  On the Road: The Original Scroll is Kerouac's signature achievement - and one of the most significant, celebrated, and provocative documents in American literary history.

I am really interested in reading On the Road.  I really want to understand what the Beat Generation was trying to accomplish and their style of free writing so I figure On the Road is a great starting point.  I'm slightly intimidated by reading Kerouac's huge first draft but hey, go big or go home!

Young Adult Literature 

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

It is 1939. Nazi Germany.  The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.  By her brother's graveside, Liesel Meminger's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow.  It is The Grave Digger's Handbook, left there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery.  So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordion-playing foster father, learns to read.  Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.  But these are dangerous times.  When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up and closed down.

I know, I know, it's basically sacrilege to have not read this book. I have read Zusak's work before and loved it but had yet to begin The Book Thief simply because I know that it's sad.  I already cry at any WWII movie and knowing that this book has reduced some of the least susceptible people I know to tears makes me unwilling to read this book.  However, I feel the need to get through this book.  I'll just keep a box of tissues handy.

Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys

Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth?  That morning, my brother's was worth a pocket watch.  Lithuania, June 1941: Fifteen-year-old Lina is preparing for art school and looking forward to summer.  In the dark of night there is a knock at the door and life is forever changed.  Soviet secret police arrest Lina, her mother, and her younger brother, tearing their family apart.  The three are hauled from their home and thrown into cattle cars, where they soon discover their destination: Siberia.  Separated from her father, Lina embeds clues in her drawings and secretly passes them along, hoping they will reach her father's prison camp.  In this dramatic and moving story, Lina desperately fights for her life and the lives of those around her.  But will love be enough to keep her alive.

Like The Book Thief, I have been meaning to read this book for years but I've been unwilling due to the harsh subject matter that could reduce me to tears.  However, I am extremely excited to read Between Shades of Grey as it is supposed to be amazing and takes place in the USSR which is a nation whose history and choices I find incredibly interesting.

Non-Fiction Novels

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann

In 1925, the legendary British explorer Percy Fawcett ventured into the Amazon jungle, in search of a fabled civilization located deep in the deadly wilderness.  He never returned.  In this masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, journalist David Grann tells the epic story of Fawcett's quest for this"Lost City of Z," as he unravels the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century.

I love exploration.  I love the idea of venturing into the wild uncertain of what one will find.  I also love mythology and learning about non-Western civilizations.  Due to this, The Lost City of Z ticks all the right boxes for me!

Hiroshima by John Hersey

On August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was destroyed but the first atom bomb ever dropped on a city.  This book, John Hersey's journalistic masterpiece, tells what happened on that day.  Told through memories of survivors, this timeless, powerful and compassionate document has become a classic "that stirs the conscience of humanity."

I find atomic/nuclear weapons an incredibly intriguing subject.  I hate the fact that since the end of the Cold War the horrible power of this bomb and the necessity to rid the earth of this power has faded from public consciousness.  I think it is really important for people to learn everything about this destructive power we now have in order to go about its own destruction in a correct manner.  Reading this historical account of the bombing of Hiroshima is a way for me to expand my knowledge on this subject.

The Serpent and the Rainbow: A Harvard Scientist's Astonishing Journey into the Secret Societies of Haitian Voodoo, Zombis, and Magic by Wade Davis

In April 1982, ethnobotanist Wade Davis arrived in Haiti to investigate two documented cases of zombis - people who had reappeared in Haitian society years after they had been officially declared dead and had been buried.  Drawn into a netherworld of rituals and celebrations, Davis penetrated the vodoun mystique deeply enough to place zombification in its proper context within vodoun culture.  In the course of his investigation, Davis came to realize that the story of vodoun is the history of Haiti - from the African origins of its people to the successful Haitian independence movement, down to the present day, where vodoun culture is, in effect, the government of Haiti's countryside.  The Serpent and the Rainbow combines anthropological investigation with a remarkable personal adventure to illuminate and finally explain a phenomenon that has long fascinated Americans.

Again, I find exploration and mythology incredibly interesting.  A personal adventure mixed with the unraveling of the zombie story is like a dream come true to me.  Also after buying this book, I was informed that it is a renowned book in the world of anthropology which is a field I am interested in studying in college.  I cannot wait to learn what Davis uncovered in Haiti.

Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing by Anya von Bremzen

With startling beauty and sardonic wit, Anya von Bremzen tells an intimate yet epic story of life in that vanished empire known as the USSR - a place where every edible morsel was packed with emotional and political meaning. Born in 1963, Anya grew up in a communal Moscow apartment where eighteen families shared one kitchen.  She sang odes to Lenin, black-marketeered Juicy Fruit gum at school, watched her father brew moonshine, and, like most Soviet citizens, longed for a taste of the mythical West.  It was a life by turns absurd, drab, naively joyous, melancholy - and ultimately intolerable to her anti-Soviet mother, Larisa.  When Anya was ten, she and Larisa fled the political repression of Brezhnev-era Russia, arriving in Philadelphia with no winter coast and no right of return.

Now Anya occupies two parallel food universes: one where she writes about four-star restaurants, the other where a taste of humble kolbasa transports her back to her scarlet-blazeed socialist past.  To bring that past to life in its full flavor, both bitter and sweet, Anya and Larisa embark on a journey unlike any other: they decide to eat and cook their way though every decade of the Soviet experience - turning Larisa's kitchen into a "time machine and an incubator of memories." Together, mother and daughter re-create meals both modest and sumptuous, featuring a decadent fish pie from the pages of Chekhov, chanakhi (Stalin's favorite Georgian stew), blini, and more.

This book combines my love for personal memoirs and learning about the USSR.  Plus it's absolutely gorgeous.  Nothing could make me not love this novel.

I'm incredibly excited to read all of these great books this year.  Reading always leaves me feeling fulfilled and satisfied in a way movies, television, and the internet never do.  What's on your reading list this year?

Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson

Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson

Publisher:  Point

Pages: 353

Rating: 4/5

   Scarlett Martin has grown up in a most unusual way.  Her family owns the Hopewell, a small Art Deco hotel in the heart of New York City.
     When each of the Martins turns fifteen, they are expected to take over the care of a suite.  For Scarlett's fifteenth birthday, she gets both a room called the Empire Suite and a permanent guest named Mrs. Amberson.  Scarlett doesn't quite know what to make of this C-list starlet and world traveler. And when she meets Eric, an astonishingly gorgeous actor who has just moved to the city, her summer takes an unexpected turn.
     Before the summer is over, Scarlett will have to survive a whirlwind of thievery and romantic missteps.  But in the city where anything can happen, she just might be able to pull it off.

Suite Scarlett opens with Scarlett's fifteenth birthday.  A day that should be filled with happiness and excitement but is clouded by the financial hardships the Martins are facing.  Instead of a wonderful meal of Belgium pancakes, Scarlett finds a burnt substitution as her parents have had to fire the chef.  Welcome to life with the Martins.  Scarlett's parents and three siblings; Spencer, Lola, and Marlene, live inside a gorgeous, slightly out-dated, and usually empty hotel named the Hopewell.  However, the Empire Suite is soon filled by Mrs. Amberson, a once actor and looking to reconnect with New York after years in Thailand.  The addition of Mrs. Amberson to the Hopewell brings career opportunities, costumers, and love the Martins have waited so long to find.

I really liked this book.  It was fast-paced and I finished it in about a day.  I have read Maureen Johnson's other books (Devilish and others) before and I was glad to find the same type of lovable and engaging characters in both books.  I fell in love with Scarlett's brother Spencer which is odd considering he isn't the main love interest in the novel.  In my defense, he is written splendidly with interesting character faults, like being unaware of the effect of his words, plus he has the strong yet thin and wiry body type which is always attractive to me. I was less thrilled with the actual love interest for Scarlett.  I felt Eric was not the right person for Scarlett and didn't even find him attractive! This is amazing, I find trees attractive.  During multiple interactions between Scarlett and Eric, I had to physically close the book and verbally display my annoyance with the proceedings.  In other words, I had to yell to my empty room.  However, while this was aggravating, it does show that I was invested in Scarlett's life so bravo to Maureen Johnson.

The main driving point of the novel is that Spencer must land an acting job or unwillingly enroll in a culinary school.  This motivates Spencer to join a production of Hamlet which is where Scarlett meets Eric and so on.  I found Johnson's portrayal of the production of a play endlessly entertaining and fitting as I'm going to be spending the next two weeks locked inside a theatre!  I especially loved the physical comedy routines between Eric and Spencer.  They helped to lighten the book and who doesn't want to picture two hot guys riding unicycles and having fake fights? Just me? Okay.

By far my favorite part of Suite Scarlett was the emphasis on family.  So many novels, especially young adult novels, focus on romance, love and relationships but that all takes a backseat in Suite Scarlett.   The focus of the novel is really on Scarlett and how this summer help strengthen her connections with her siblings. Over the course of the novel, all four siblings learn more about one another and come together as a more cohesive family.  I love to see groups of people overcome their clashing personalities and come together to make something awesome.  Yeah, it's one of my favorite types of plot.

To round up my thoughts, I'm really glad I took the time to read Suite Scarlett. It has pumped me up for my own production as well as reminded me that not every YA book is centered on romance.  If you're ever feeling a bit stuck or low on energy and want a quick fun read that still has some depth, Suite Scarlett is the way to go.

Book Buying Spree Challenge

This challenge is hosted by Bookish Comforts and the idea is 'Imagine you've just won a $100 book buying spree for The Book Depository. What would you buy?'  I love the idea of this challenge and clicked right over to The Book Depository to make my list!

This would be my list, coming in only $1.50 under $100 dollars! I didn't opt for many cheap books but I've been really lusting over these six books.  The two that I'm most excited about are Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking by Anya Von Bremzen and Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.  Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking is actually a memoir of her life in Soviet Russia which I would love  due to my infatuation with anything that has to do with Soviet Russia.  Fangirl is a story about the clash between the world of fandoms and real life. It is centered on a girl's transition to college life and, as I am entering college this fall and I am involved in the Harry Potter fandom I little too much, it would be a perfect read for me!

I really loved this challenge from Bookish Comforts and hope to be involved in one of their read-a-thons this summer!

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

I don't know what pictures to use so SELFIE.

Instead of a normal book review for The Happiness Project, I'm going to share with you what I found to be most interesting and what I would like to adopt in my life.  If you don't know, Gretchen Rubin set out to spend a year of her life focusing on how to boost her happiness in daily life.  She wanted to appreciate her life while she lived it.  In her own words: "I wanted to change my life without changing my life".  To accomplish this, Gretchen decided upon 12 areas of her life she wished to improve in and assigned one per month, created area based goals she wished to work on each month.  The entire novel is full of interesting food for thought.  I'm going to share 6 ideas I found most interesting and want to incorporate into my own life, one per month (January-June; don't want to give everything away!).  The Happiness Project isn't a how-to guide for happiness but rather a memoir by a friend.  She is honest about her failures and misgivings throughout the novel changing it from a definite guide to a personal exploration inspiring the reader to discover how to change their own life.  I'm not even scratching the surface of this novel.  If you find the following insights interesting, I encourage you to check out the rest of the book!

January - Buyer's Remorse Clutter
This is one of my greatest nemesis.  Too many times I've bought clothes which I have never worn.  For example, I own a mustard yellow pea coat. I thought it was awesome when I bought it, however I have only worn it 10 times in the 4 years I've owned it. Yet, I cannot throw it away because it was expensive and I haven't used it enough. Gretchen hits the problem right on the nose: "rather than admit that I'd made a bad purchase, I hung onto things until somehow I felt they'd been 'used up' by sitting in a closet or on a shelf".  I need to throw these things away.

February - Dealing With Anger
Some believe it is better to vent all anger. I am not one of these people.  I view anger as an incredibly unhelpful emotion which only breeds more anger. I find that when I express anger I inwardly hope that the person or object I'm frustrated with will change, which is usually impossible.  However, if I accept that something is difficult, I begin to look for ways to cool my anger myself instead of forcing change on something else.  I was vindicated in this belief when Gretchen talked about how expressing anger only amplifies it.

March - Expanding Your Self-Definition
Many people advocate for trying new activities and learning new things but Gretchen added another factor besides the joy of learning, expanding self-definition.  She claims that buy having more talents and activities, one feels less threatened and unhappy when one of them is attacked as you are comforted by that fact that you have other things to work on.

My friend Mo's artwork

April - Acknowledge People's Feelings
During this month, Gretchen focused on parenthood and I thought it was very interesting how the acknowledgement of other people's feelings helps you toward the outcome you want more than arguing would.  Plus no one feels mean or hurt in this scenario! I would love to be conscious enough of what I say to do this.

May - Enjoyment Lasts
While focusing on leisure, Gretchen asks her friend for help discovering what she liked to do and her friend answered "What you enjoyed as a ten-year-old is probably something you'd enjoy now". The simplicity and truth of this statement has made it stick in my head.

June - Spontaneous Trait Transference
Gossip never feels morally correct anyway but the spontaneous trait transference makes me want to never say another negative thing. Basically psychologists have shown that when you call someone arrogant, mean, or other adjectives, the person listening to you automatically associates the speaker with that quality.  So quite literally talking bad about someone only makes you look bad.

I hope you enjoyed this little segments from The Happiness Project.  I really do love this book and can see myself rereading it multiple times in the future so do yourself a favor and pick one up next time you go to the bookstore or your library!

(Oh and Happy Holidays everyone.  I hope you all had a great Christmas/Holiday season and will have a great New Years!)

The Sting Man: Inside Abscam by Robert W. Greene

The Sting Man: Inside Abscam by Robert W. Greene

Publisher:  Penguin

Pages: 324

Rating: 4/5

     In February 1980, the nation learned that the FBI had been conducting a sophisticated sting operation called Abscam in an effort to combat white-collar crimes such as art-theft, securities forgery, and counterfeiting.  Led by Mel Weinberg, international con man par excellence, the investigation soon revealed that there was a bigger game afoot.  Abscam eventually led to the convictions of a US Senator, several members of the House of Representatives, a gaggle of state and city officials, and a small army of lawyers and influence brokers who specialized in government favors.
     In The Sting Man, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Robert W. Greene presents not only an expose of the operation itself, but also a thrilling account of Weinberg's genesis as a small-time street hustler in the Bronx and his rise as the FBI's international con mastermind.  A rogue's story, as well as an unsettling lesson in civics, The Sting Man offers a vivid and fascinating look at the underbelly of the American Dream and poses the question: Can you really con an honest man?

In The Sting Man, Greene provides an all-inclusive account of Abscam.  In 1978, Amoroso and other FBI agents created a con to catch white-collar criminals.  They enlist the help of Melvin (Mel) Weinberg, a life-long confidence man, to structure their sting.  Mel had been coning people since the age of six in 1931 when he would steal gold stars from the teacher's desk to hide his failure from his mother.  He soon graduated into front-end scams building himself a large fortune.  With Mel's help, the FBI formulate a scam in which two agents pose as the American representatives of an imaginary Arab sheikh who wishes to invest billions and find permanent asylum in America.  Greene utilizes 237 interviews with Weinberg, FBI tapes and official court transcripts to trace how this con attracted elected public officials as well as the white-collar criminals it was originally designed to capture.

I picked up The Sting Man as it is the true story behind the upcoming film American Hustle.  Before I found this novel in Barnes and Noble, I thought that American Hustle was a fictional movie and had never heard of Abscam before.  Having finished the novel, I am amazed by the amount of corruption the FBI found. Numerous congressmen were named as possible targets and quite a few were actually convicted for trading money for pushing bills.  The power of greed is examined deeply in this story. Weinberg's philosophy of man emphasizes that all men are powered by greed. The idea of obtaining large amounts of money causes men to push aside all rational and moral judgement. Weinberg also talks about how hope helps a con man. People would rather hope that the money will eventually come rather than entertain the notion that they are being conned. I found these two insights extremely interesting and knowing them makes me hope I'll be harder to con! All in all, The Sting Man, while at times dry due to it's journalist author, outlines one of the few events in which the FBI fought against the government directly and was engaging, making me truly interested in the subject, and chock full of facts, making me confident in my knowledge of this historical event.

Ninety Days by Bill Clegg

Ninety Days by Bill Clegg

Publisher:  Little, Brown and Company

Pages: 191

Rating: 3/5

     Ninety Days is a powerful account of an addict's journey to recovery, by a writer "as intoxicated by language as he was by crack".  The goal is ninety-just ninety-clean and sober days to loosen the hold of the addiction that caused Bill Clegg to lose everything.  With six weeks of his most recent rehab behind him, he returns to New York and attends two or three meetings each day, avoiding the people and places of his drinking and using life.  It is in these refuges that he befriends essential allies, including Polly, who struggles daily with her own cycle of recovery and relapse, and the seemingly unshakable sober Asa.

     At first, the support is not enough; Clegg relapses with only three days left.  Written with compromised immediacy, Ninety Days begins where Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man ends - and tells the wrenching story of Clegg's battle to reclaim his life.  As any recovering addict knows hitting rock bottom is just the beginning.

The complete opposite of the last book I read about addiction (The Wolf Of Wall Street), Clegg paints a very relate-able view of addiction and recovery.  Moving back to the city after a 6 week stay in rehab, Clegg has to discover how to avoid relapse with no outside force  requiring his sobriety.  Living in his brother's office with no money, Clegg focuses all his efforts on attending multiple addicts meetings each day where he finds the community and support system he needs to reach ninety days.

Lately I've been craving non-fiction.  Weirdly, I've grown sick of plots with beginnings, middles, and ends.  Life isn't organized like this.  Therefore, I've been drawn to memoirs where there is a sense that this is only a snapshot of someone's life, not the entire thing.  In Ninety Days, Bill Clegg does a great job of relaying this sense of reality which I've been craving.  He takes the reader though his battle with coke and alcohol.  From what I gather, his experience with addicts meetings and relapses is very similar to the experience of others.  Thankfully, I have never had an experience with addiction myself or with people I know, but Ninety Days has made me more understanding to people in those positions and provided insight into the recovery experience.

A to Z Bookish Survey

While strolling through Bloglovin today I found the A to Z Bookish Survey! As a preteen, I always loved filling out these surveys.  I think they help formulate a good understanding of the person answering the questions.  Anyway, without further ado the...

Author you've read the most books from:

RL Stine.  Going back to the old days.  Counting every single goosebumps and his other random stand alone novels, I think I've read at least 50 books by Mr. Stine

Best Sequel Ever:

I don't read that many series.  Probably Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. I love it so much more than Hunger Games.

Currently Reading:

Rereading The Brother's Karamazov for school, rereading Paper Towns by John Green for fun, and starting East of Eden for school.

Drink of Choice While Reading:

Water

E-Reader or Physical Book:

Physical book.

Fictional Character You Probably Would Have Actually Dated In High School:

Sutten from The Spectacular Now.  He is so identical to the boy I kinda dated it scares me.

Glad You Gave This Book A Chance:

The Maze Runner by James Dashner.

Hidden Gem Book:

The Cardturner by Lois Sachar or Nothing by Janne Teller

Important Moment in Your Reading Life:

Reading War and Peace.  Before this novel, I was a pessimist who couldn't care what happened to me.  War and Peace made me realize how special life is.

Just Finished: 

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Kinds of Books You Won't Read:

Paranormal Romance.  Been there, memorized the plot of them all. Also, adult Romance novels.

Longest Book You've Ever Read:

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Major Book Hangover Because Of:

I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak

Number of Bookcases You Own:

I have 3 but one is full of DVDs, non-fiction, and college pamphlets.

One Book You Have Read Multiple Times:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Preferred Place to Read:

My bed. It's a bad habit cause I'll stay up later then I should.

Quote That Inspires You/Gives You All The Feels From A Book You've Read:

"'If only, if only,' the woodpecker sighs

The bark on the tree was as soft as the skies.

While the wolf waits below, hungry and lonely,

Crying to the moo-oo-oon, 'If only, if only'" - Holes by Lois Sachar

Reading Regret:

Wasting my time reading books that did not broaden my world view.

Series You Started and Need To Finish (all books are out in the series):

The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Evil Genius, Inkworld Trilogy, and Bloody Jack Adventures.

Three of Your All-Time Favorite Books:

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Youth in Revolt by CD Payne

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

Unapologetic Fangirl For:

Harry Potter, always.

Very Excited for This Release, More Than All The Others:

The sequel to American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

Worst Bookish Habit:

Not reading due to school then binge reading every break.

X Marks the Spot: Start at the Top Left of your shelf and pick the 27th book:

Divergent by Veronica Roth

You're Latest Book Purchase:

The Brothers K by David James Duncan for class.

ZZZ-Snatcher Book (The Last Book that Kept You Up WAY Late):

World War Z by Max Brooks

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

Publisher: Delacorte Press
Pages: 360 pgs
Rating: 5/5

The maze was only the beginning...
     Solving the maze was supposed to be the end.  No more puzzles.  No more variables.  And no more running.  Thomas was sure that escape meant he and the Gladers would get their lives back. But no one really knew what sort of life they were going back to.
     Burned by sun flares and baked by a new, brutal climate, the earth is now a wasteland.  Government has disintegrated - and with it, order - and now Cranks, people covered in festering wounds and driven to murderous insanity by the infectious disease known as the Flare, roam the crumbling cities hunting for their next victim...and meal.
     The Gladers are far from done running.  Instead of freedom, they find themselves faced with with another trial.  They must cross the Scorch, the most burned-out section of the world, and arrive at a safe haven in two weeks.  And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.
     Thomas can only wonder - does he hold the secret to freedom somewhere in his mind?  Or will he forever be at the mercy of WICKED?

If you don't know The Scorch Trials is the second book in the Maze Runner series so if you haven't read the first book, I may spoil a little.  If you want to read my review of the first book, The Maze Runner, click here.

I really liked this book.  Just like the first, it is a nonstop adventure, but I found this installment much less predictable which was a nice surprise.  It actually scared the crap out of me a couple times.  I found it to be much more realistic which just helped the terror factor.  The Maze Runner is set in the maze, a world completely controlled by WICKED, but The Scorch Trials are set in the actual apocalyptic world in a ruined city.  This takes away any separation between the reader and the characters that I felt in the first novel.  Plus, in the Maze most of the characters were unknown to the reader allowing them to care less about the deaths, but now that the pack has been whittled down to about 20 and it's harder to be separate from their misfortune.  

The Flare infected Cranks are terrifying.  I thought the grievers were scary, but now there is a human element.  I don't know why, but human monsters that have lost their humanity are always the scariest monster.  What was interesting is while the Cranks returned to their bestial state, they still retained their intelligence to a certain extent.  They could talk and plan an attack, they definitely weren't zombies.  That being said, the nose man scared the CRAP out of me.  After I read that I had such a problem turning off the lights and trying to sleep. Even last night, approximately a month after reading that part, I was so scared thinking about it I couldn't turn off the lights!  

If you can’t tell, this installment was a lot harsher, scarier and therefore more interesting to me than the first.  Thomas now knows what's going on and is thinking about why and what he should be doing about it, questions that lead to a much better story in my opinion.  Also, I loved the additions of Brenda and Jorge, Aris, and Group B.  Both groups brought new elements to the story.  Now there are conflicting emotions and goals among all the characters and the reader is forced to look outside Thomas views and the Glader’s goals.

The one thing I didn't really like about the book was the romance.  Now, I can love romance, but I don't think it has a place in a story when there are much larger problems present and that's how I felt reading The Scorch Trials at certain points.  For example (semi-spoiler), when Teresa disappears in the beginning, that is all Thomas can think about not the multitude of bodies hanging from the ceiling!!! Thomas, I'm much more interested in your memories about WICKED than your maybe relationship.  However, this is just my personal opinion and dislikes, if you don't mind a little side tracking, there's a good story there, I just thought it was a little annoying how occupied his thoughts were of her not the boys around him.

All in all, it was a good read.  I finished it in a few days, though there was a month of rest between those days. I'm still deeply interested in WICKED's motives and future plans so the next book is now sitting on my bed waiting for me. The Death Cure, here I come!

Elixir by Hilary Duff (again)

Elixir by Hilary Duff
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Pages: 327
Rating: 3/5
Series: Elixir Series

A soulmate for life...or death.

     Seventeeen-year-old Clea Raymond has felt the glare of the spotlight her entire life.  The daughter of a renowned surgeon and a prominent politician, she has become a talented photojournalist who takes refuge in a world that allows her to travel to many exotic places.  But after Clea's father disappears while on a humanitarian mission, Clea begins to notice eerie, shadowy images in her photos of a strange and beautiful young man - a man she has never seen before.

     When fate brings Clea and this man together, she is stunned by the immediate and powerful connection she feels with him.  As they grow closer, they are drawn deep into the mystery behind her father's disappearance, and they discover the centuries-old truth behind their love triangle and haunted by a powerful secret that holds their fates, together they race against time to unravel their pasts in order to save their lives and their futures.

I've read and reviewed this book previously, almost two years ago, but I always feel the need to reread a series when a new installment arrives.  I still enjoyed Elixir on the second go, but I found more faults in the writing though I still loved the story and when it's right it's really good.

Clea is rich, famous and a fantastic photographer trying to live after her father's disappearance. Coming home from a trip through Europe, she sorts her pictures and finds the same man in many of them.  In one, he's floating on air! Clea begins to have scarily realistic dreams about this man, but she’s never herself.  She’s another girl in another decade with him.  Scared and confused, Clea, with the help of her friends Ben and Rayna, travels to Rio to try and solve the two mysteries.  She is soon involved in a 500 year old feud and torn between love and a painful death.

I couldn't connect with Clea and that's a problem.  She's just too rich, famous, pretty, kind of a Mary Jane.  In fact most of the characters were like that which makes it me think well why the hell do I like the book then? And the truth is, I have no clue.  Sometimes I read a book that I don't really love but there are parts which I am ecstatic about.  That's what happens in Elixir.  I love the descriptions of Clea's past life and when she discovers Sage in her photos, but the romance and the drama I couldn't careless about.

The dependency and romance eerily echoed Twilight which made me question my taste even more.  If I find Edward watching Bella sleep super creepy why does Sage inspire different feelings?  He’s in the picture of her birth!  Also, both Bella and Clea will do anything to keep their love alive, no matter the consequences.

I don't know how this worked but I disliked all the characters, loved the story and can't wait to read Devoted.  It's like Reality TV.  I don't know why I love Dance Mom's but I come back every week to see the next episode.  I think this book is worth reading for parts of the novel, but not if relate-able characters are a necessity for you.

Crossing Entertainment

Sometimes, you don't need to make music about a book because it already exists in popular culture. Recently, I've found music that illustrates books on the radio! Today, I thought I'd share two of these combinations with you.

"I'm sorry I don't understand, where all of this is coming from, I thought that we were fine. Your head is running wild again, my dear we still have everything and it's all in your mind."

Just Give Me A Reason - P!nk

This song is the novel Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.  Every time I hear it I think of Anna and Vronksy's relationship near the end of the book.  In the story, Anna has trouble separating fiction from reality and thinks that Vronsky no longer loves her, which is far from the truth.  I see that same emotion in this song, especially in the parts sung by Nate Ruess. 

"There was time, a met a girl of a different kind. / Don't you worry, don't you worry child, see heaven's got a plan for you."

Don't You Worry Child - Swedish House Mafia

This connection may just be in my brain, but this song reminds me of the Maze Runner series.  When I finished the second one this song automatically came to my mind.  Just replace God with WICKED and it makes sense right? It also fits into the emotional crazyness at the end of The Scorch Trials.

It's crazy how perfectly similar unrelated things can be.  It kinda proves the idea that there only a few plots in the world retold in different ways!

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Publisher: Delacorte Press
Pages: 374
Rating: 4/5

     When Thomas wakes up i the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name.  He has no recollection of his parents, his home, or how he got where he is.  His memory is empty.
     But he is not alone.  When the lift's doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade, a large expanse enclosed by stone walls.
     Just like Thomas, the Gladers don't know why or how they got to the Glade.  All they know is that every morning, for as long as anyone can remember, the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened.  Every night, for just as long, they've closed tight.  Every thirty days a new boy is delivered in the lift.  And no one wants to be stuck in the Maze after dark.
     The Gladers were expecting Thomas's arrival.  But the next day, a girl is sent up - the first girl ever to arrive in the Glade.  And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.  The Gladers have always been convinced that if they can solve the maze that surrounds the Glade, they might find their way home...wherever that may be.  But it's looking more and more as if the the Maze is unsolvable.
     And something about the girl's arrival is starting to make Thomas feel different.  Something is telling him that he just might have some answers - if he can only find a way to retrieve the dark secrets locking within his own mind.

This book is unstoppable and I mean that in the most literal sense.  There are no pauses in the action, no time for the reader to accustom themselves to the world.  Plus, like Thomas, you have no idea what is happening or why.  It's written in third person limited which was really weird to me.  At the beginning, I didn't catch and remember Thomas's name so every time the book mentioned him I thought they were talking about someone else. :P I found couldn’t but it down due to the fast pased action but I found when I did put it down, I didn't feel the urge to pick it up again for a few days.  However, I’m glad I finally did.  I read the last 2/3 of the book in one night!

I loved the characters, especially Minho and Newt. I loved how this group of 50 boys was functional even though they didn't agree 100%.  A scene in which they argue the fate of Thomas was great at showcasing this.  The leaders of their community all have different thoughts but have the common goal of surviving the Maze.  I thought it was a great way of showing the government in a small scale. Also, none of the characters were perfect.  Thomas was a loner who doesn't appreciate his first friend and Minho has a terrible anger management problem.

As a dystopian, I found the story to be good and not overused.  Unlike most, the characters in The Maze Runner are separated from the world.  They can't remember it.  All they know is how things work and the words for them but there are no previous memories attached.  There is also no oppressive government, only WICKED the organization responsible for the boy's predicament.  In fact, the boys have created their own democratic system in the maze which functioned well until WICKED begins to make changes in their environment.

All in all, I really enjoyed The Maze Runner.  It wasn't a difficult read, nor did it leave me deep in thought, but I did devour it. Plus, I could hardly bring myself to turn off the lights when I finally finished.  I was actually shaking and terrified that a Greiver would enter my room as soon as darkness fell.  This book is no Cloud Atlas, but it had great imagery and a bounding story line that could keep a sloth interested.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Publisher : Random House
Pages :  509
Rating: 5/5

A postmodern visionary who is also a master of styles and genres, David Mitchell  combines flat-out adventure, and Nabokovian love of puzzles, a keen eye for character, and a taste for mind-bending philosophical and scientific speculation in the tradition of Umberto Eco and Philip K. Dick.  The result is a brilliantly original fiction that reveals how disparate people connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift across time like clouds across the sky.

No, that summery doesn't draw me in either, but it was on the back of my book so I'll include it. However, I will attempt to do better. Cloud Atlas is an amazing anthology written by one person, so not an anthology at all....it's six stories that fit together like Russian nesting dolls (are they Russian...). Basically, you get half of a story five times then a whole story then the end of the 5 stories backwards to the way they were initially presented. Make any sense? No? Well, the first half and the last half are the same story. Get it now? If not I don't know how to tell you. I can say I've never seen another book formatted this way but I really liked it. It was easier to see how the stories tied into one another and it felt like you were uncovering the stories as the characters were. My memory was the only problem, by the time I was reading the ends of the stories; I had forgotten what happened in the beginning! However, a few quick rereads put everything back in to perspective.

The range of stories told in Cloud Atlas is amazing. Everything from mystery to romance to sci-fi included in just 500 pages! There is easily something for everyone, just look at the scope of these six stories and tell me you’re not interested in any of them.

1. Adam Ewig is crossing the Pacific with a doctor who collects human teeth and a runaway stowaway in his cabin.  
2.  Robert Frobisher was never one for subtle.  He falls in and out of love easily and struggles through life while composing his life's work.  
3.  Luisa Ray, aspiring serious reporter, cannot believe she's stumbled upon such a story but people start to get hurt and she starts to wonder if she's next!
4.  Timothy Cavendish just wanted to escape the gangsters trying to kill him and now he's trapped in a nursing home with a torture-happy nurse.
5.  Somni-451 lived the same life day in and day out slowing working her way toward freedom from the Papa Song Corporation.  She lives, completely unaware of reality until someone breaks her out.  
6.  Zachry has lived a normal on the big island with his fellow Vallymen, the canbalistic Kona and his goats until a woman Prescient arrives and asks to be lead to the home of the devil.

This is one of the most influential books I have read this year. I will admit that I saw the movie first but trust me when I say they are not the same story. For me, the movie was more focused on the connections to others, romance and growth via the actors and their parts and the book was stories of people standing against the will to power. The "will to power" is a philosophical concept created by Friedrich Nietzsche. The cliff-notes version is that all of mans actions are based out of a desire for power and a desire to reach the highest possible position in your life. Nietzsche makes a very persuasive and agreeable argument for this pessimistic idea. Cloud Atlas does its best to show that will to power is not a necessity in a human. All six main characters embody this idea and send a powerful message of belief. Belief in free will, in humanity, and in each other which is something I find hard to believe in. As at unwilling believer in the worst it was great to read something so hopeful. If you ever feel stuck in a rut I would suggest giving Cloud Atlas a try.

 "Fantasy. Lunacy.  All revolutions are, until 

 they happen, then they are historical 

 inevitabilities."

Year Long Challenges

This past year I haven't read much, with Netflix and the internet in my room it's hard to make myself read.  Isn't it simpler just to scroll through Tumblr or rewatch Firefly again?  However, this doesn't aide my brain in any way except to craft better stories (you should see the dreams I have...) or creepily fangirl over people. So I thought I'd attempt various book challenges this year!

1. Off The Shelf - I have a problem. There are 200 books sitting in my room unread and I thought this challenge could help. My goal is the level 'Making a Dint' in which I attempt to read 30 books already have on my shelf (pre Jan 1st 2013)

0/30

2. Where Are You Reading? - This challenge just seemed really cool and interesting to me.  You keep a google map with all the cities you read about in books.  It would be really cool to look back at the end of the year and see all the places you 'visited'.

My Map

While those are the only book challenges I am going to join I'm going to set a challenge for myself. Along with reading a lot more I am going to try to watch 100 movies.  I'm sure this won't be hard for a girl who watched season 7 of How I Met Your Mother in two days, but I think it will be good for me to actually keep track of how many movies I watch.

(isn't it cute, you can tell I spent so much time on it... :)

2/100

In My Mailbox (4)

In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by the glorious Story Siren, if you don't know who this is, check her out! This meme is a way to share what books you bought, borrowed, traded, won, or in some random way received the previous week.  This week I traded books at a local used bookstore.  How is it that whenever I go to trade books I get more books coming home with me then I left with?

Archaelogy: The Definitive Guide by Barnes and Noble Books

Beautiful by Amy Reed

Grosse Pointe Girl: Tales From a Suburban Adolescence by Sarah Grace McCandless

Sweep Book 8: Changeling by Cate Tiernan

Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick

Luna by Julie Anne Peters

The Black Book Diary of a Teenage Stud: Girls, Girls, Girls by Jonah Black

Thats it for me! I hope you guys had a great week and got some awesome books to read in your mailbox!