The Book Thief

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Liesel Meminger is 9 years old when her brother dies, she is given to foster parents, she thieves her first book, she is in Nazi Germany.

"It’s a small story really, about, among other things:

* A girl
* Some words
* An accordionist
* Some fanatical Germans
* A Jewish fist fighter
* And quite a lot of thievery"

I can never do this book justice.   The writing was so descriptive it was like eating chocolate lava cake.  Every page had something I wish I could commit to memory.
The book is narrated by Death.  Death is fantastic.  He is truly poetic.......and I loved him.  The book was so lovely and destructive that I cried.
There are so many quotes I would rewrite half of the book if I put them all down here.........

"He does something to me, that boy. Every time. It's his only detriment. He steps on my heart. He makes me cry." 

"I could introduce myself properly, but it's not really necessary. You will know me well enough and soon enough, depending on a diverse range of variables. It suffices to say that at some point in time, I will be standing over you, as genially as possible. Your soul will be in my arms. A color will be perched on my shoulder. I will carry you gently away. At that moment, you will be lying there (I rarely find people standing up). You will be caked in your own body. There might be a discovery; a scream will dribble down the air. The only sound I'll hear after that will be my own breathing, and the sound of the smell, of my footsteps."

"- proof again of the contradictory human being. So much good, so much evil. Just add water." 

"The only thing worse than a boy who hates you: a boy that loves you."

 "Somewhere, far down, there was an itch in his heart, but he made it a point not to scratch it. He was afraid of what might come leaking out."

Rating 5  There were times when I felt a little anxious and the book felt long but the writing made up for it.

Rating PG 13  Lots of swearing, death, brutality......Nazi Germany. 

Shiver

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Grace meets 'her wolf' when at the age of eleven she is attacked by a wolf pack in her backyard.  After being dragged into the woods, all she remembers is the unmistakable yellow eyes of 'her wolf'.
Years later, her parents' lives revolve around each other and Grace is left to her own devices.  She waits yearly for the winter when she knows her wolf will be out in the woods watching her.  It is fall and the wolves have attacked Jack, a classmate of Grace's.  The men go out to cleanse the woods of the deadly animals.  Grace finds Same bleeding from a bullet wound on the deck of her home.  She instantly recognizes the eyes of the wolf she has loved for years.
Sam and Grace are inseparable from that moment on.  Luckily her parents are mentally out to lunch and never notice that a teenage boy has moved into their daughter's room.
Sam knows that as a wolf ages, he or she will eventually stop changing into a human.  He feels that this is his last season as a human.  Sam and Grace have finally found each other and it seems that Sam's human life span may be over.
Very Twilightesque.........fantastic writing in comparison yet I didn't feel the fierce depth of emotion that I felt for Edward and Bella.  Seems sadder and moves faster.  The parents are idiots in this book.  (Charlie is not an idiot......just a single father duped by a very quiet vampire.  Plus Charlie is a cop and thus beyond reproach.)
Rating 4  Great writing yet something was missing in there.
Rating PG 13 Grace and Sam sleep in the same bed immediately which was fine with me but considering this is a teen novel......not so great.  Grace and Sam eventually do more than sleep together......fulfilling for me of course but not too cool when its geared for teens. This part is alluded to and not graphic.  Just another good book my daughter can't read until she is 21...:)

Unhallowed Ground

Unhallowed Ground by Heather Graham

Sarah has recently returned to her home town and purchased the home she has coveted since her youth.  The historic home is in one of the oldest cities in Florida, and is ripe with ghost lore and history.  Sarah finds herself in the middle of a ghost story and possibly the target of a serial killer.  The walls of her beloved home are filled with dead bodies from ages past. Her nights are haunted by a historical ghost that just happens to look like the handsome detective Caleb Anderson (yum). Her days are filled helping Caleb search historical records that some how seem connected to the disappearance of young women in present time.

I had a fun time with this book.  It was a quick and easy read.  The setting was fantastic and made me want to head down to Florida (which I have never wanted to do before).  The historical aspect along with the thrill of the grisly and ghostly findings was the perfect mix.  Not to mention the heated romance between Sarah and Caleb.  Total sucker for a little cop love.

Rating 4  Certainly not top notch lit, but fun.
Rating R Things eventually heat up between Sarah and Caleb.  Definitely R rated love.  Danger, murder, ghosts, descriptions of dead bodies.

Under The Banner Of Heaven

Under The Banner Of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

I found this little prize stuck in the back corner of my library.  I picked it up under a misguided assumption that it was about polygamy.  Honestly I was in it for the dirty details.  Polygamy is something I can't wrap my brain around and I was interested in what this book might entail.

The book happens to center around the murder of a young woman and her baby.  Her husband's brothers and himself begin straying from the path of mainstream religion and become beyond fundamentalist.  When one of them receives a revelation that she and a group of others must be exterminated because they are in the way of the work, the young woman and baby end up with their heads nearly severed in small town America.

Krakauer, in order to illustrate his point about the violent faith of fundamentalist, deems it necessary to pull forth the ugly past of the current LDS church.  His writing style is gripping.  He is a truly skilled writer and his historical and nonfiction accounts are made palatable by his gift of writing.  On the other hand, from the blurb on the front cover until the last page, you are inundated with ugly and terrifying facts (?) that make a mainstream religion seem like its VERY ugly stepsister, the fundamentalists.  Although some say that the distinction is clear between the LDS church and the other fundamentalist groups, including various polygamous sects, it really wasn't.  Krakauer delves back to the roots of the LDS church.  It is understandable why he does this. But his back and forth style, from past to present and right to left, leaves the lines blurred, and a harmless, God loving community pegged as the murderers and rapists next door.

I did enjoy Krakauer's skilled writing ability.  I wasn't scared off by what I read.  I am however saddened that a service and faith oriented religion is even spoken of in the same breath with the other crack job, spin offs.  And I am sure as I say that, that those people probably shouldn't be pigeon holed either. Also the LDS religion's faith in God was basically ignored and replaced with the worship of Joseph Smith.  Not at all factual in that instance.

Rating 4 for skill 2 for sticking to what should have been the main idea.  It would be like me wanting to bring to light what I consider to be misdeeds of Catholics and going so far back in history that I drag in the Jews and turn on the spotlight.
Rating R Murder, rape, incest, drug abuse, language.

The Giver

The Giver by Lois Lowry

One of my all time faves!  I just read this to my 9,7,4,and 2 year old.  The kids couldn't get enough.  We zipped through in a couple of days.  This book spurred great discussion.

In a futuristic utopian society, Jonas knows nothing about suffering, hunger, anxiety, choice, color, or love.  His path is laid out for him by the age of twelve.  He has a family unit that he was assigned to.  His job will be chosen for him.  His food is provided by community workers.  Everything is the same for everyone.  Choice is made nonexistant so that a wrong choice can never be made.
When Jonas reaches his year of twelve, he is assigned the job he will train for and work in until he is taken to the House of the Old.  Jonas becomes the new Receiver for the community.  Memories from 'back and back and back' are given to Jonas by the aging Receiver turned Giver.  Jonas will hold these memories as an honored Elder.  He will abide the joy and suffering that the community will not be allowed or burdened to know. 
Jonas begins to realize that his utopian community is clearly not as ideal as he once thought.  In fact there is no choice, no emotion, no love.
One part that clearly struck me in this novel was the lack of color.  Many times I have read the same description from those speaking about the oppression of communism.

Rating 5  Everyone should read this.  Very 1984 but cleaner.
Rating PG  Some inferences to sexual feelings that they call 'stirrings' and take pills to squelch.  Also a shocking scene which I won't *spoil*.

Mao's Last Dancer

Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin

Under the crushing poverty prevailing throughout China during Mao's communist reign, Li Cunxin's life began.  He was one of seven boys born to peasant parents in a commune called Quingdao.  With newspaper to cover the walls, tickets to purchase water, scant amounts of food, and no plumbing, Cunxin grew up in a very loving family.  At eleven years old, communist leaders came to his school and chose him to begin training as a dancer.  Ballet combined with other forms of dance were being used to promote Mao's communist agenda.  Cunxin was taken from his family, which brought them great honor, and was basically tortured into becoming one of the worlds best ballet dancers.
The story follows Cunxin through childhood in his proverty stricken commune, through his rigorous and painful training, all of the way to America.  Upon arriving on American soil, Cunxin came to find the truth he had always know, shattered.  America was not the poorest country on Earth, covered with roving gun weilding mobs.  In fact everyone was beyond gracious, there were freedoms he had never imagined, monetary income was staggering, and the availability of food was nearly fantastical.

The love alone that the family members had for one another during such oppression made the book worth reading.  Historically and politically the information was made easy to read through Cunxin's fabulous narration.  Though by the end I admit skimming at parts.

The book is now what appeared to be a breathtaking movie.

Rating 3.5
Rating PG - PG 13  Not the kind of violence I anticipated.  Mostly very harsh treatment and living conditions.  Sexual relationships in adulthood.

The Lace Reader

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

Towner has just returned to Salem, Mass. after fifteen years of estrangement from the place and her family.  She left after the suicide of her twin and returned when her stepgrandmother went missing.  Towner comes from a long line of lace readers, which is something like being a psychic.

The setting was beautiful.  The theory had a lot going for it.  The love interest a cop (yum).  I don't think that Barry pulled it off though.  It took many times of starting and at least 100 pages to get into the book.  Not a whole lot of lace reading going on despite the title.  Towner seemed many times like she was 50 instead of 32.  By the end I was disappointed that I had finally come to feel for the character.  I felt something like betrayal........the character was infact not the character I had come to know.  I needed to reread the book, and not in a good way.

Rating 2.5  There were some good parts in there.

Rating PG 13 Sexual abuse (alluded to), alcohol and drug abuse, child/spousal abuse, suicide.

Let The Right One In

Let The Right One In  by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Right off I have to say that this book is not for the faint of heart.  It was easily the most freakishly interesting vampire book I have read.  I have to say it rivaled Anne Rice.  I also have been cured of any desire I may ever have to visit Sweden.

Oskar is a  young Swedish boy in the early 1980's.  He is a picked on, wussy, mama's boy.  I say that with the utmost respect for those kinds of boys.  His father is an alky.  His mother works and watches TV with him at night.  Oskar tries to avoid the nut job bullies.  It is a seriously depressing existance.  It as like........IKEA in a cesspool.

Oskar keeps a scrapbook of serial killers/ murders in Sweden.  He pretends in the woods near his apartment, that he is a killer.  Most likely because he lacks true power in his real life.  Then murders begin happening in the suburbs near where he lives.  This, just as his new neighbors move in during the night. 

Oskar  meets the new girl one October evening while playing with his knock off Rubics Cube on the apartment playground.  She is small, thin and reeks of death.  But Oskar and Eli form a very committed friendship.  Oskar finally finds the strength within himself to begin to stand up the the bullies.  All it took was someone else to see his value. 

There are many other story lines..........all wildly depressing, throughout the book.  Another main one happens to be that of Eli's helper.  He is a pedophile that kills (anyone.....not children)  in order to bring her the blood she needs to survive.  

Rating 4  Seriously written with great imagination.  Probably hands down the best vampire book I've ever read.  Also one of the most disturbing books I have ever read.

Rating R  Pedophilia, murder, abuse, alcoholism, sexual context, drug use, theft.........really it just goes on.  If Sweden is at all like this.........I hope to never go.

Fablehaven Grip Of The Shadow Plague Book 3

Fablehaven Grip Of The Shadow Plague   Book 3 by Brandon Mull

In this Fablehaven, a dark plague begins to overtake the creatures of light within the preserve.  Kendra, Seth and their family must find out where the plague originated in order to stop it before Fablehaven falls to the creatures of darkness.  The family is also trying to find information about the Sphinx, once thought to be one of their greatest allies.  He may actually be the head of their greatest foe, the Society of the Evening Star.

This book has treasure hunting, dragons, demons, fairies, centaurs, satyrs......a huge variety of mythical creatures and lots of adventure.  I even shed more than one tear by the end........making this a pretty good book.

Rating 4  I read these to the kiddos.  It seems to take us a long time.  The kids really like them but I don't like them as much.  They are a fun family read and my kids like to read them on their own. My baby even likes to have these read to him.  Great gift books or books for kids that can read on their own.

Rating PG The family is in peril most of the time in this book.  The dark plague could be considered scary.  One member of the group that runs the preserve dies.  That is where I cried.........so did my four year old. 

This Lullaby

This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen

Remy is a bit caustic about love.  Her father wrote her a lullaby that turned him into a one hit wonder.  The lullaby was the only thing he ever gave her.  Her mother is a romance novelist on her fifth marriage. 
Remy just graduated from high school and this story is about the summer 'between' before she heads off to Stanford.  She has always been the mother in the relationship with her mother.  She has always taken care of everything.  Remy has always protected herself from love by having a formula by which she picks up a guy and dumps him within a short amount of time.  This summer she is ready to have another fling and then head off empty handed to college.  Then she meets Dexter.  He is a musician that eats in her car, doesn't tie his shoes, make his bed or even have food in the fridge.  Dexter is quirky and a much freer spirit than Remy.

I picked this book up determined to hate it.  I thought it was going to be like all of the other teen lit that I have seen lately.  Way over sexualized and without a point.  Well the book was meh.  I did not like the constant drinking and smoking.  The underage drinking did lead Remy into trouble which was only touched on.  Remy was able to acknowledge that she was heading down a bad path because of the way she acted.  She was also able to realize that she was wrong about many of the things that she thought.  She was willing to change when she learned something about herself. 

Rating 3  Not bad.  I did like that the character was able to she her errors and change.  I also liked that despite what I thought........there wasn't sex.
Rating PG 13 to R  Potty potty potty mouth.  Underage drinking, smoking and sex. (The sex is not explicit.  It is indicated that the character has had many sexual relationships during high school.)