August 2013 Wrap-Up

Here's a summary of my book-related activity for August.

Books I read (linked to the reviews)

The Unknown (Animorphs #14) by K.A. Applegate (TBR pile)
Lizzy Speare and the Cursed Tomb (Lizzy Speare #1) by Ally Malinenko (review copy)
Divergent (Divergent #1) by Veronica Roth (TBR pile)
The Show (Northwest Passage #3) by John A. Heldt (review copy)
Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson #1) by Louise Rennison (re-read)
The Bookstore by Deborah Meyler (NetGalley)
Wanted! by Caroline B. Cooney (NetGalley)

Books I bought

Warm Bodies by
Isaac Marion

Zealot: The Life and Times
of Jesus of Nazareth
by Reza Aslan

Is Everyone Hanging Out
Without Me? (And Other
Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

Books I've been approved for on NetGalley

The Troop by Nick Cutter

Other ebooks I received for review

Progress on challenges

I completed the following letters for the A-Z Book Challenge: none

I read 0 books for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

I read 0 books for the Anne Rice Challenge. You can still sign up!

I read 0 books for the Debut Author Challenge.

I completed the following squares for the Book Bingo Challenge: read 2 books everyone but me has read, read 4 books that are released in 2013

I read 0 books for the Nerdy Non-Fiction Challenge.

I read 1 books for the Dystopia Challenge.

I read 5 books written by women.

I read 3 books for the Seriously Series Challenge.

Progress on my TBR pile: I added 4 books to my to read list and removed 7, so my pile decreased by 3 this month!

The Andalite Chronicles by K.A. Applegate

Title: The Andalite Chronicles
Author: K.A. Applegate
Publication Date: December 1997
Length: 326

At the beginning of the Animorphs series, the Andalite Prince Elfangor crashes his ship on earth, and before he dies gives five children the power to morph, so that they can fight to defend their planet against the invading Yeerks. The Andalite Chronicles is Elfangor's story, his hirac delest (final statement), transferred from his mind to his computer in his final moments.

It's interesting to see Elfangor, looked up to by Ax and the other Animorphs as a hero, when he was just an aristh (a cadet). Aside from this backstory, this book gives us a bunch of other context for the main series: we get to learn more about the Taxxons, more about how the Yeerk who would become Visser Three managed to take over an Andalite host, as well as a rather mind-blowing fact about one of the main characters that I can't say any more about without a big spoiler.

The Andalite Chronicles isn't part of the chronology of the main series, meaning you could read the series without reading this book, but you should definitely read it. It's well-written and action-packed, and who doesn't love a tonne of back story?

4 stars.

Wild Children by Richard Roberts

Title: Wild Children
Author: Richard Roberts
Publication Date: October 2011
Length: about 344 pages (ebook)

Wild Children is almost like a collection of related, longish short stories. It is divided into acts, which follow different characters, though there's overlap between them. In each act, we learn the stories of children who became wild children. It's said that becoming a wild child is punishment for sinning, and the type of animal they become and the degree of the change depends on the type and severity of their sins, but it's the big, powerful church saying that, and it's not clear how much of what they say is true.

Some of the main characters include Bray, a Donkey Girl who can't accept her lot in life; Hind, a Donkey Girl who seems strangely satisfied with her life as a rich man's pet; Coo, a Dove who provides spirtual guidance to other wild children; Jinx, a Cat who falls in love with a Donkey; Left and Right, twin wild children; and Elijah, probably my favourite, a religious man who is convinced that the church is right, until he starts turning into a wild child and everything he believes is brought into question.

What was interesting in this book was the philosophical aspect, the exploration of what it means to be a wild child. Along the way, many characters answer this question, and all have different answers. This was an interesting and unique read.

4 stars.


Full disclosure: Free ebook copy received from the publisher through NetGalley.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

Title: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Publication Date: June 1, 2009
Length: 178 pages

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner is an interesting sort of spin-off. It takes a minor character from Eclipse, a young vampire named Bree, and shows us her side of the story. She's part of an army of newborn vampires being raised to attack the Cullens. The vampires in this army are pretty clueless, since they've been lied to their whole (second) lives about both basic facts about vampires (they're told that they'll die if they go out in the sun, so that they're kept under control), and about the Cullens (they're told that this battle will be an easy victory for the army). Bree and Diego start to see through these lies, but not soon enough to save them.

I wish I'd read this right after reading the Twilight Saga. I found that I couldn't remember any details about Bree or the battle, which would have helped my appreciation of this story. That said, I still really enjoyed it. In general I like stories that show events from a different perspective, especially when they give the reader a whole new outlook on who the "bad guys" are in a story.

Also, Freaky Fred. I love him. Best vampire special power ever: the ability to make people around you feel disgusted. You'd be surprised how useful that can be, as Fred demonstrates in this book. He's definitely my favourite character here.

4 stars.

July 2013 Wrap-Up

Here's a summary of my book-related activity for July. Basically I read a lot of review copies. I'm finally catching up!

Books I read (linked to the reviews)

Hello Hot Lunch, Hello Cool Lunch by Lisa Leconte (review copy)
Love Rehab: A Novel in Twelve Steps by Jo Piazza (NetGalley)
Red Moon by Benjamin Percy (NetGalley)
The First Rule of Swimming by Courtney Angela Brkic (NetGalley)
Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa by Benjamin Constable (NetGalley) (in progress)

Books I bought

The Book of Medieval Puzzles
by Tim Dedopulos

Angel Omnibus 2 (IDW)

Books I've been approved for on NetGalley

The Bookstore
by Deborah Meyler

Map Worlds by
Will C. Van Den Hoonaard

Books I got for contributing to Kickstarter campaigns

Clear and Present Thinking
by Brendan Myers and others

Progress on challenges

I completed the following letters for the A-Z Book Challenge: none

I read 0 books for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

I read 0 books for the Anne Rice Challenge. You can still sign up!

I read 0 books for the Debut Author Challenge.

I completed the following squares for the Book Bingo Challenge: read 2 books that are released in 2013

I read 0 books for the Nerdy Non-Fiction Challenge.

I read 0 books for the Dystopia Challenge.

I read 3 books written by women.

I read 0 books for the Seriously Series Challenge.

Progress on my TBR pile: I added 4 books to my to read list and removed 6, so my pile decreased by 2 this month! Whoopee!

Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

Title: Go Ask Alice
Author: Anonymous [Beatrice Sparks]
Publication Date: 1971
Length: 185 pages

Go Ask Alice is written in the form of a diary of a high school girl named Alice, as she starts using drugs and gets sucked into that world. It's a very disturbing story, detailing her many attempts to stop, and the ways in which she's pulled back in, as well as the horrible things that happen to her when she's on drugs.

A lot of the time I was just so mad at Alice's "friends". If only they'd supported her when she was trying to quit, things would have gone so much better for her, I'm sure. But mostly I was just really sad for Alice. She makes poor decisions, but seems to be a good person, and several of the bad things that happen to her are a result of things that are done to her without her knowledge, including her first exposure to drugs.

A bit of a spoiler here (but not much of one, since you know it can't end well for Alice, as this book was basically written as a "don't do drugs, kids!" cautionary tale), but the ending really ruined it for me. After going through so much, and finally making real progress and looking like everything's going to work out after all, Alice's death is just tacked on to the end of the story. I feel like this was really just a cop out, because apparently it wouldn't be enough of a cautionary tale if things ended happily. I feel like that downplays the horrible events of Alice's life during her drug addiction. A lot of teenagers would still be convinced not to try drugs just from that; it just wasn't necessary to kill Alice off in a "well she did drugs so obviously that leads to INEVITABLE DEATH" kind of way.

But ignoring that tiny epilogue, this book is a powerful and sad story that I do recommend.

4 stars.

Hello Hot Lunch, Hello Cool Lunch by Lisa Leconte

Title: Hello Hot Lunch, Hello Cool Lunch
Author: Lisa Leconte
Publication Date: April 16, 2013
Length: 136 pages

This is a flip book, with one half being Hello Hot Lunch, and the other half being Hello Cool Lunch. It's a cookbook full of cute lunches to make lunch more exciting for kids.

This wasn't really what I was expecting, in that it's not so much a cookbook as it is a food art book. The recipes aren't so much "this is how you make this food" as they are "this is how you make a bunny out of cheese and put it on top of some food". There are a couple sections with actual recipes, like some easy to make soups, and a list of possible sandwich toppings, which I find to be the most helpful part of this book.

The meals in this book are adorable; I'll give the author that. But throughout the book I was thinking a few things: 1) I might do this once in a while. One time I used a cookie cutter to make heart-shaped pieces of watermelon for my partner and he loved it. But there's no way I'd do this on a regular basis. 2) I really worry that a kid whose consistently given food with bunnies and fishies on it will become one of those horrendously picky eaters, like an amplified version of the kid who'll only eat a grilled cheese sandwich if it's cut diagonally.

Anyway, what person with kids has time to cut little bunnies to put on their lunches? I guess this book is aimed at a very specific subset of stay-at-home parents, who are very lucky in how much time they have on their hands.

1 star.