Three Books
The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks - read it because I thought I might like to go see the movie. After reading, decided that's not going to be happening. Even for Nicholas Sparks, it was too over-the-top shmaltzy and way too predictable thanks to really clumsy foreshadowing (hey book, your plot twists are showing). The book uses third-person limited storytelling, with four alternating p.o.v. characters: Ronnie the rebellious teenager with a heart of gold, her divorced pianist dad, her wealthy love interest, and the Outer Banks' resident "bad boy," a womanizing pyromaniac. The chapters written by the bad boy are hilarious, because Sparks, being such a wholesome person himself, cannot write sociopath skeez (his dirtiest thoughts are that Ronnie has a "tight little body"). For me, the only thing I connected with in the book was the power of the Outer Banks to slow down life- that place really has an amazing bubble quality and I totally understood why it was where Steve needed to live and why Ronnie's little brother in the book wants to move there. Against that perfect setting, the stereotypical characters fell flat for me.
Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev (who blogs at lisamantchev)- I picked this book up a while back after reading kellyrfineman's review. The first time I tried to read it, I had a hard time getting into the very unique concept of a girl living in a magical theatre amongst characters from plays, but this time I was exactly in the right mood to be enchanted by it. Eyes Like Stars, once the premise has been laid out, becomes a rollicking adventure and is really delightful for a Shakespeare lover. I'm looking forward to reading the second act in the Théâtre Illuminata series, Perchance to Dream, when it comes out in May. I'm excited just by the cover art posted at Mantchev's website… can I take that to my next hair appointment?
THIS MUCH!Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin (who blogs at http://gabriellezevin.blogspot.com/) - this book is one of my new favorites, I think, and a great demonstration of how versatile the YA genre can be; it's so good I read it in one sitting. I'd seen good reviews of this book around the time it came out, but a big reason why I purchased it now is because there's an amnesia plot bunny bouncing around in my brainzoo, complements of the Almost Alice album. Alarmingly, I think this particular bunny wants to be a teleplay rather than a short story or a novel. But I digress. Wasn't I reviewing a book? Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac is about a high school junior named Naomi who loses all recollection of the last four years of her life after falling downstairs at her school. The narrative follows her struggle to figure out who she was before losing her memory, and who she's going to be now that she's not required to be the same person. She has to sort out her place in her family, in her school's social hierarchy, and with three guys- her quirky best friend, her popular jock boyfriend, and a troubled boy whose past is as big a mystery as her own. And guess what? It's YA Realistic Fiction. Remember when books didn't need vampires or magic to be awesome? I loved this book's portrayal of high school life, complete with quirky yearbook and drama kids, the kind of kids I spent high school with.
While reading, I kept saying, "I hope this gets optioned for film, because it would be a great movie." Zevin uses detail so skillfully that I was really able to visualize the story. Or maybe I'm just focusing on description in the things I read because I've been giving my students the "good readers try to visualize what they're reading like a movie in their heads, but they can't do that unless you, the writer, give them details about the characters and setting!" lecture as they work on their narrative essays. Anyway, this book is a movie in Japan already, and is going to be one here- with a cast to include Emma Roberts and Anton Yelchin (from Star Trek!). I may check out Zevin's adult novel, Margarettown.
Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev (who blogs at lisamantchev)- I picked this book up a while back after reading kellyrfineman's review. The first time I tried to read it, I had a hard time getting into the very unique concept of a girl living in a magical theatre amongst characters from plays, but this time I was exactly in the right mood to be enchanted by it. Eyes Like Stars, once the premise has been laid out, becomes a rollicking adventure and is really delightful for a Shakespeare lover. I'm looking forward to reading the second act in the Théâtre Illuminata series, Perchance to Dream, when it comes out in May. I'm excited just by the cover art posted at Mantchev's website… can I take that to my next hair appointment?
THIS MUCH!Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin (who blogs at http://gabriellezevin.blogspot.com/) - this book is one of my new favorites, I think, and a great demonstration of how versatile the YA genre can be; it's so good I read it in one sitting. I'd seen good reviews of this book around the time it came out, but a big reason why I purchased it now is because there's an amnesia plot bunny bouncing around in my brainzoo, complements of the Almost Alice album. Alarmingly, I think this particular bunny wants to be a teleplay rather than a short story or a novel. But I digress. Wasn't I reviewing a book? Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac is about a high school junior named Naomi who loses all recollection of the last four years of her life after falling downstairs at her school. The narrative follows her struggle to figure out who she was before losing her memory, and who she's going to be now that she's not required to be the same person. She has to sort out her place in her family, in her school's social hierarchy, and with three guys- her quirky best friend, her popular jock boyfriend, and a troubled boy whose past is as big a mystery as her own. And guess what? It's YA Realistic Fiction. Remember when books didn't need vampires or magic to be awesome? I loved this book's portrayal of high school life, complete with quirky yearbook and drama kids, the kind of kids I spent high school with.
While reading, I kept saying, "I hope this gets optioned for film, because it would be a great movie." Zevin uses detail so skillfully that I was really able to visualize the story. Or maybe I'm just focusing on description in the things I read because I've been giving my students the "good readers try to visualize what they're reading like a movie in their heads, but they can't do that unless you, the writer, give them details about the characters and setting!" lecture as they work on their narrative essays. Anyway, this book is a movie in Japan already, and is going to be one here- with a cast to include Emma Roberts and Anton Yelchin (from Star Trek!). I may check out Zevin's adult novel, Margarettown.