So summer is in full swing for me and it's been mostly good so far, but like I said in my last post, I did end up having both the Perio-Scaling and the wisdom teeth extraction done in the same day so I have been out of it for a few days now (and I did miss my #FridayReads last week like I thought I might, but oh well, next Friday!) Overall, June wasn't as good of a reading month as I had predicted, and I veered way off of my books that I had planned to read.
What I Planned To Read: What I Read: Classics Choice: A Jane Austen Legend by Marie Lu YA Choice:The Fault in Our Stars by John Green The Fault In Our Stars by John Green Adult Fiction Choice: Tell The Wolves I'm Home (I have started TTWIH) by Carol Rifka Brunt Non-Fiction Choice: Stiff by Mary Roach Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card Audio Book Choice:World War Z by Max Brooks World War Z by Max Brooks
So, as you can see, I didn't really stick to my plan. I also discovered that on second thought, audio books really aren't for me so instead of having an audio choice for each month I'm going to do a book-to-movie adaptation where I read the book and then watch a movie and compare the two. I kind of did that a couple of times this month. Whilst I was sidelined with my mouth surgeries I hit up Blockbuster and got some DVD's to keep me company and they were all based on books: Beautiful Creatures, The Perks of Being A Wallflower, and Warm Bodies.
This month I also posted that since it is summer and since I do have freedom oozing from me now, I want to start posting each day. Monday will be a meme (this post is going to be my Monday meme for today), Tuesday will be Top Ten Tuesday, reviews will be posted on Wednesday, Throwback Thursday looks at what I was reading this time a year ago and I will tweet up my #FridayReads (notice the hashtag) to follow me on Twitter: @victoriaphoria. What I Blogged:
Review of Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (my Classics Club Spin Choice #2)
Review of City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Review of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Review of Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
A post describing the daily posts I will be doing during the summer
My first Monday Meme
A Top Ten Tuesday
My first Throwback Thursday
Classics Choice: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury YA Choice:Cinder by Melissa Meyer Adult Fiction Choice: Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (2013 TBR Pile Challenge) Non-Fiction Choice: A Higher Call by Adam Makos and Larry Alexander (August Book Club Choice) Book-To-Movie Adaptation Choice: The Host by Stephenie Meyer
Hazel Grace Lancaster has Cancer and even though she has been taking a miracle drug that shrinks the Cancer cells for years, she is still dying. Wanting her to interact with other people, her mother forces her to go to a local Cancer survivor support group. Here she meets a new friend, Isaac and a new love, Augustus, Gus, Waters. The book is Grace and Augusts’ story of falling in love despite the fact that they both suffer from a disease that will ultimately kill them.
Title: The Fault In Our Stars Author: John Green Publication Date: 2012 Publisher: Dutton Books Number of Pages: 318 Where I Got It: Target Dates I Read It: June 16 & 17, 2013 Number of Stars: 4/5 Read It For: YA Pick- June 2013
I have wanted to read this one for a long time. I've been hearing
amaz-ball things about it and it seems that every blog I read and every
YouTuber I watch has read, loved and reviewed this book. I am 100% in love with
John Green. So, I quit waiting around for the paperback to come out or for the
library to get in a copy so I did something that I rarely do- in the hopes of
this book being as amazing as everyone kept telling me that it would be, I
bought a hardback copy! Last week my mom, my aunt and I went to the beach for a
week and this was one of the books that I took. In fact, this was the one book
that I read entirely while at the beach (I also finished Ender's Game and started Tell
The Wolves I'm Home). I was able to read it in two days partly because it
was a YA book which means not as long as an adult fiction book and partly
because it was really good. It wasn't the mind-blowing, change-your-life,
read-a-million-times book, but it was pretty damn good! As a warning, I'm going
to include "spoilers" throughout this review so if you've not read it
yet and you want to go into it with fresh eyes, then stop reading now and go
pick up your copy.
So we have a few select characters and I
loved each of them. What was so amazing about the characters is that they were
still real kids at heart despite these awful diseases that were claiming their
bodies. They played copious amounts of video games, they watched copious
amounts of mindless television, they dealt with annoying and overbearing
parents, they fell in love and they got their hearts broken. I was pretty blown
away by the dialogue between the characters. Several of the reviews that I
either read or watched for this book also mentioned that the vocabulary and the
manner of speaking that the teenagers used was pretty distracting and very
unrealistic. Despite the fact that the way of speaking was not entirely true to
life, thanks to John Green’s genius, it was still really well done and
beautifully written. Another thing that I was somewhat disappointed in was
Hazel’s lack of character development. Every other character in the book
developed in major ways throughout the course of the story, yet Hazel didn't seem to join any of them and she remained somewhat flat for me for the duration
of the book. Hazel was a difficult protagonist for me because she was very likable but she wasn't very believable, especially towards the end. She was
confronted with so many dilemmas that I thought for sure that she would grow
the most and I was very disheartened when she developed the least. One thing that I adored about this book was the fact that unlike in most YA
novels, the parents were not just background figures but they were actual
characters in the story themselves with actual plot lines and secrets of their
own. Augustus was himself until the end. He was a fully developed character from
the beginning and it will be hard for any female reader to not fall in love
with him. Isaac was very endearing. If I ever lose my sight I hope that I can take it as
well as Isaac does. In typical teenage fashion, he was more preoccupied with a
break up! Peter Van Houten is the author of Hazel’s favorite book. I love when writers
write about writers. Though we don’t get a great deal of interaction with
Peter, he remained true to character and was douchy til the end, yet as readers
we can’t fault him for it and I ended up liking him very much.
I really enjoyed the story and french-a-llama if I didn’t cry! I’m
grateful to this book because it made me very grateful for what I do have. It
was beautifully written and the pacing was well done. I loved how it ended; it
was foreshadowed that the book would end this way throughout so I was expecting
it (both the events as well as they stylistic choice to end it where he did). At
its heart this is a story about falling in love and what it’s like for a
teenager to be in love with a dash of disease and death thrown in. Despite what
I thought going into the book it is not a book about death or dying or disease,
but about living, however brief it may be. It’s about finding yourself or in
the case of some of the characters, re-discovering yourself.
Like I said earlier the dialogue was somewhat distracting as it
was very unrealistic for teenagers to engage in conversation the way that these
characters did. John Green’s writing style is all his own which is to say
exceedingly sharp and engaging. What really amazed me in this book was how well
he wrote a female protagonist, he did it better than many female writers! Having
read Will Grayson, Will Grayson (and
loving it) and now being impressed with this novel, I started researching Mr.
Green online and I discovered his YouTube channel that he does with his
brother, Hank, called Vlogbrothers and if you've not experienced this yet then you
have been missing out! I encourage you to leave my blog and stop reading my
review and go to watch his videos right now. That’s how good they are! He also
does a series called CrashCourse in which he explains significant events in
history and literature and science in a humorous and relatable way! After you've watched all of the Vlogbrothers videos and come back here to finish the review,
I now encourage you to leave again to go see CrashCourse. And speaking of
leaving the blog and going to watch other things I wanted to include
Elizzebooks review of the Fault in Our Stars because she is able to capture
John Green’s writing style perfectly:
The story was set in
Indiana which really didn't matter to me, this was a story that could have been
set anywhere in the US and it still would have rang true. The theme is
universal and everyone can relate whether they be a Cancer patient, survivor,
teenager, or someone in love. At one point in the novel the characters get to
go to Amsterdam and I didn't like this part of the book while I was reading it,
but after finishing the novel and reflecting on it, this was actually perfectly
done. Amsterdam was the best setting for what happens there and it was an
amazing crescendo for the characters to climb to before the end of the book.
I am very glad that I
finally joined the bandwagon and read this book and I encourage you to as well.
There is something that everyone can get from it. It wasn't as earth-shattering
as I had hoped, thus the only 4 stars, yet it was terrifically done and beautifully
written and it did invoke an emotional reaction from me.
"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we
are underlings." –William Shakespeare from Julius Caesar
Title: City of Bones (Book #1 in The Mortal Instruments series) Author: Cassandra Clare Publication Date: 2007 Publisher: McEldery Books Number of Pages: 485 Where I Got It: Work Library (SMS) Dates I Read It: May 17 - June 3, 2013 Number of Stars: 3.5/5 Read it For: Just for fun!
Clary Fray is our main female protagonist in the series and one night while out at the Pandemonium club with her BFF Simon she witnesses an altercation that leads to a stabbing between a group of Shadowhunters (Nephilim (1/2 angel, 1/2 human entities)) and a demon. As a human, Clary shouldn't be able to see these beings since all humans are under the influence of glamour which keeps them blind to the magic world that these beings live in. Clary's mom is then kidnapped by the bad guy demon so naturally Clary has to hook up with the Shadowhunters to fight demons, vampires, werewolves, fairies, and each other in order to rescue Mom and to obtain the Mrotal Cup and discover why Clary is immune to the glamour.
I was drawn to this series because of the covers. The covers are beautiful and colorful.I kept shelving these books and each time the books circulated I would think to myself how awesome the covers look. Finally towards the end of school I checked out City of Bones and started reading the series. Good timing too since the movie is coming out in August!
One of my favorite things about this book was the characters. Each character is fully fleshed out and serves his/her/its purpose perfectly- almost, at times, to a fault (unfortunately, sometimes I found the characters a little too predictable). I didn't have a character that I did not like and that I could not relate to, which is rare for me in books, especially lately for some reason. I liked each character for who they were and I connected to each character. Each character is believable and each character has their strengths and weaknesses which definitely added to their believable-ness (not a word). Clary is so immature at times, I get infuriated with some of the decisions Jace makes and I was sympathetic towards Simon and Alec. I am hoping for some extreme development and growth throughout the series, especially in regards to Clary's character.
This book revived my enjoyment of YA books. The dialogue can get a bit odd at times and sometimes it was not very true to nature. At times the book became too lengthy and the 485 pages might scare off some readers, especially younger teen readers. I am more excited for the Infernal Devices series but with the City of Bones movie coming out soon I decided to read this series first. After finishing this book I turned to the BookTube community for reviews and most people recommend readers to read this one first as it addresses and explains several elements of the downworld that the characters inhabit.
I enjoyed the story, overall. However, I have to say that I am so over the whole paranormal love triangle bit that is plaguing YA literature lately. I am getting a little bit tired of the werewolves and vampires, etc. I did enjoy the fast-pace of the story and I liked how the characters got themselves into some funny, sticky, tricky situations. There was an air of mystery to the novel as we were never really sure what was going on or where Clary's mom really was. The series was only supposed to be a trilogy, but now there are six books. I wonder if this will make the story get messy in books 3-6? One super plus with regards to the story was that it was not confusing and was well explained which doesn't always happen with paranormal fiction.
The story is set in NYC which was neat as it allowed us to get away from the dystopian setting for a bit. I liked that there was a paranormal story happening in a real life place while the real world spun on. As someone who works with teens I kept getting distracted by wondering how Clary and Simon were able to literally just disappear for days on end? Was this book supposed to be set in the summer when no one would notice that the characters were gone for days at a time? Did they not have to check in to school? I guess I just need to let the teacher in me suspend her disbelief for a bit and flow with the go!
Overall I really did enjoy this book and I am very excited for the next installment in the series, The City of Ashes. I am also pretty excited to see the movie, even though it is coming out in August right when school starts back up- ugh!
