An ARC - and Updates

I won at ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) recently from Goodreads (if you're not a member you should be!) that I am working my way through.

Though not typically my genre, I have to say, I am intrigued to see where this goes. I'll let you know!

Oh, and if we're not friends on Goodreads - change that! I love seeing what other people are reading so I can get more great books to add to my (monumental) to-read shelf.

[Brain Candy] - How To Be a Person by Lindy West, Dan Savage & Others

Just, right off the bat -- what a catchy title, huh?! How could I not read a book as boldly titled as "How To Be A Person"?

I absolutely ADORE Lindy West's writings on Jezebel and Dan Savage has been a favorite for several years now. They both have this delightful, wry wit that somehow manages to cut to the quick while still being hilarious. Yes, there are other writers in this compilation, but truthfully, these two are the stand-outs.

So, does the book live up to it's lofty title? Not really - but it's fun anyway. It's a very light, fast read (under two hours straight) and if you're looking for something fun - definitely check it out. There are absolutely wonderful moments where you will split your sides laughing. Take this excerpt* for instance:

*highlighted/scanned by me and not mean to violate copyright in any way


You're laughing right now, aren't you? I know I was. This book is funny and fun, but I'm not sure it's the definitive guide to being a person.

Though, perhaps that's Lindy and Dan's humor shining through again. Of course this is the definitive book on how to be a person. Of course, it is.

[Brain Candy] - The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

"You are so busy being you that you have no idea how utterly unprecedented you are." - Augustus to Hazel




How does one even begin a review of a John Green novel? There is absolutely nothing that can be said about the beauty of a John Green novel that could compare in depth or breadth to the beauty of the John Green novel itself. Particularly this one.

For me, reading The Fault In Our Stars was a religious experience. From beginning to end, this book was a flawless masterpiece. I am seriously not exaggerating when I say that.

Though The Fault In Our Stars is not really a new story - love tainted by the painful inevitability of terminal illness - I can honestly say that what Mr. Green has created here is one of the most beautiful, poignant, true and heartbreaking novels I've ever read.

Green's prose is perfectly executed and his characters so realistic and lovably 'real'. Every word, every thought, every second of interaction with the story, speeds you along to the next on a rollercoaster of emotion that leaves you gasping for breath.

You will cry, and you will laugh.
You will wonder how it is already 1am.

Seriously. I read this in one sitting, in one evening. After being particularly engrossed, for what I would later find was several hours, I found that it was very early morning. It didn't matter. I could not even consider putting it down. That is truly all that needs to be said. Read this book. Your life will be better for it.

John Green is THE man.

[Brain Candy] - Across The Universe & A Million Suns by Beth Revis

This past weekend, I stumbled onto a goldmine of amazingness. Beth Revis's Across the Universe series. Of which, two books have been released (the second one only just). I believe a third is planned and I absolutely cannot wait.

The plot: A teenage girl named Amy joins her parents as part of a cryogenics experiment on a cargo ship bound for a new planet. She awakens expecting to be on a new planet three hundred years from when she was placed in stasis. What she doesn't expect is that she has been awoken too soon and that in the two hundred-fifty years she has been asleep, the ships inhabitants have become very different than the people she knew in her time. She meets - and is immediately fascinated by - Elder, who was bred to be the future leader of the ship and what unfolds is an adventure and a love she could never have imagined.

The Verdict: Excellent. Obviously. I ingested these books (some 900 pages) back-to-back in one weekend. They are absolutely fantastic. The plot has a million twists and turns, the suspense is high throughout the entire book and Amy is a wonderfully accessible, normal teenage girl who takes on extraordinary circumstances. I particularly love this series (as it is told from her POV) because she is not the typical, weak-willed teen girl archetype. Yes, there's a romance element to this series, but it is about far, far more than that - and Amy struggles constantly with being her own woman in a world completely alien to her.

Sci-Fi setting, mystery/suspense, romance AND a strong female POV voice. This series has it all. As I said, I absolutely cannot wait for the third and I recommend these books to teens and adults alike.