Book Blahs and Blogger's Block

I've got a case of the book blahs! I haven't really read much lately. I haven't really wanted to read much lately. And I've got a case of blogger's block- I haven't really felt like blogging about anything that I have read.

I think what I need is a breathtaking, exciting, new, fun, fantastic book to get me out of this funk. I need to be excited about reading again, and so excited that I want to blog about it.

Got any book suggestions for me?

Sarah Dessen time!

Alright guys so I've got three different Sarah Dessen books to review. It would be repetitive to review them all separately so I'm just going to write one big post about them right here, right now.

What's a Sarah Dessen book? Well, I like to think of her as the Nicholas Sparks of young adult literature. Her books tend to be about love, relationships, family, friends, teen girls figuring out who they are, that kind of thing. Don't get them confused with surfacey romance novels. These books usual talk about deep feelings and important issues. Here's a little bit more about the three that I read:

Someone Like You - This books focuses on best friends Halley and Scarlett. Scarlett's boyfriend is killed in a motorcycle accident, then she realizes she's pregnant with his baby. Meanwhile, a popular boy is paying attention to shy Halley, which never happens. Can Halley handle a new boyfriend and still be there for Scarlett? I really enjoyed this book, Halley is a strong and likeable protagonist.

This Lullaby- I loved this one! Remy doesn't believe in love. How could she, after watching her mother go through husband after husband? But then Dexter comes along. He's different from all the other guys Remy's dated. Can she overcome her fear and learn to love before it is too late?

Dreamland- I didn't enjoy this one as much, but that wasn't because it's not good. It's really good- it just deals with deeper and heavier stuff. Caitlin is determined not to be like her sister, Cass. And when she meets Rogerson, he seems like the perfect way to step out of her sister's shadow. Soon Caitlin and Rogerson are in love- but what happens when that love becomes dangerous?

Bottom line- I enjoyed all of the books and would recommend each of them. However, my favorite Sarah Dessen book is still The Truth About Forever, and you can read my review of that by clicking here.

One last thing: Despite my love for Sarah Dessen books, there are a few things about them that bother me, and I feel compelled to mention them. First of all, almost all of her high school age characters smoke and drink, and often they do drugs and sleep around a lot too. Sometimes it works because it's part of the issues they are dealing with, or it fits in the story, but sometimes it's just not necessary. Maybe it's realistic, but still I don't feel like I could put any of her books in my classroom library. The second thing that bothers me isn't as easy to put my finger on... But all of her books feel sort of... dated. Or something. Granted some of them were written in the 90's (gosh, it feels weird to consider something written in the 90's old), but they just seem like maybe they take place more in a world that my parents grew up in, rather than the one I grew up in. Not that that is even a bad thing, but it just annoys me a little for some reason.

Despite my minor issues with her books, I would still suggest that if you haven't read a Sarah Dessen book before, you should give one a try. I hope to read more of her books soon, so keep checking back for more reviews!

March Update

Are you ready for this?

Books Read: 10 / 34 total

Books to go: 77

Best Book of March: I can't decide! It might be a three way tie between:

The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima,

Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter, and

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Worst Book of March: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

0 (0) out of 5 nonfiction

0 (1) out of 10 classics

2 (5) out of 15 New York Times Bestsellers

Genres: 6 out of 10

5 (23 total) Young Adult

1 (4) Fantasy

0 (1) Classic

1 (2) Thriller

2 (3) Romance

1 (1) Chick Lit

So there it is. 10 books in March. It has been my lowest month so far, but still over my minimum goal of 9 books a month, so I'm pretty happy with it.

However, I did set a goal at the beginning of the month to read more adult books than young adult books. And, as it turns out, I read 5 adult and 5 young adult. So you might be thinking I didn't meet my goal. But actually, as of last night at midnight, I was halfway through my 6th adult book, so technically, I read 5.5 adult books and 5.0 young adult. And, I'm saying that that counts. And, I do make the rules after all. So, all in all, success in March!

Now on to April. I have decided that since I met my March goal AND April is my birthday month, I'm going to read whatever the heck I want. So, most likely you should prepare for a lot of young adult and/or fantasy and/or dystopian and/or romance reviews coming your way!

An apology letter

Dear avid readers of my 111 project,

This is an apology letter. You might be wondering what I have to apologize for. Well don't worry, I'm getting ready to explain, probably with more detail than you ever wanted.

You see, it has come to my attention recently that I have become... wait for it... a book snob. A huge book snob! Might as well change the name of my blog to Snobby's 111 in 11. Ok, I'm getting carried away. Back to the point.

I realized the full horror of my snobbery as was reading a new Nicholas Sparks book, The Choice, and I was really enjoying it.

But, as I was reading, I found myself thinking, what am I going to say about this in my blog? How is the character development? Are the characters too stereotypical? There's good plot development, but what about the lack of originality in the plot and setting? And on, and on, and on with my boring English major terms.

To clarify, I actually like thinking analytically about books. I like all those boring literary terms. And I like discussing them in relation to books, which is one reason I started book blogging.

HOWEVER: I realized while thinking about The Choice, that I have actually used my love of literary analysis stomp out my love of something more much more valuable to me- my love of READING.

In other words, if I enjoy reading something, then I should just let myself enjoy it instead of going through and pointing out how it just isn't literary genius, and this and that is wrong with it.

I think I've been ashamed to admit that I enjoy something so simple as Nicholas Sparks, afraid that people will judge me and think I am a shallow reader with no real literary knowledge or some nonsense like that, so I've been justifying my love of these books by saying things like "I enjoyed this book BUT it's no literary genius or anything," or "BUT it's shallow and predictable" or something like that. When really, I've just plain enjoyed it.

So that, my friends, is how I've become a book snob. And let me tell you, it ends TODAY. Because right now, I'm going to tell you my honest to goodness opinion of Nicholas Sparks' book, The Choice.

Here it is: I REALLY LIKED IT! I was drawn in right away. It had all those great things that I'm beginning to love about Sparks' books: the quaint small towns with the slow pace of life, likeable characters, lovable pets, and of course, a beautiful love story. Plus this one had a good little twist, and I had no idea how it was going to end. Which means, it was impossible to stop reading! I did have a few problems with it, the biggest one being the morality of some choices the characters made in the middle of the story. Now I sound like a prude! I've gone from snob to prude! But seriously, I don't want to spoil the plot for you, but I do feel like parts of the book were saying that anything is excusable if you are in love. I do not agree, but it was a minor part of the story, so I guess it's all good.

So anyway, there you have it, the former literary snob admitting love for some good old Nicholas Sparks. Please accept my humblest apologies for my snobbery.

Sincerely,

Holly

Virals by Kathy Reichs

Virals is the first book in a new young adult series by Kathy Reichs, who you might know as the producer and inspiration for the TV series Bones. This book is about world famous forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan's niece, Tory. Tory and her other science-geek friends accidentally get exposed to a virus, which gives them special abilities. They also stumble upon a cold case murder. Soon, they are using their new-found abilities to fight for their lives, because someone is trying to kill them before they can solve the murder.

This book was totally fun to read. I loved Tory. She was smart, brave, and bossy-- far from you typical young adult heroine. I also loved the mix of the science fiction-y super virus and the murder mystery thriller, with some real science stuff thrown in. And the end, well I totally didn't see it coming. (Although maybe that's because it was almost a little too unbelievable.) All in all a good book.

The only problem I had was, I'm not sure if it needed to be tied in to the Bones storyline. I mean, I don't think the fact that Tory was Bones' niece really added to the story at all. And it felt like a stretch to fit that in. I think what I'm saying is that this book was strong enough on it's own, and it didn't really need a crutch. But, I guess it did help to explain Tory's geeky/quirkiness... and maybe it did make her more of a believable character. Besides, people do love a good spin off series. And also- I haven't read any of Kathy Reichs other books- so really I'm making an uninformed judgement here. So, don't take my word for it.

But either way, it's still a good book. And it's the beginning of a series, which means more books to look forward to!

Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella

So the other day, I was at Books-a-Million, checking out their bargain books section. I'd picked out about $10 worth of stuff, but you see, I had this coupon for a free tote bag with a $15 purchase. So in my search for something else to buy, I came across Sophie Kinsella's Remember Me?, and without really knowing anything about it, I bought it. And, you know, the really funny part of the story is that I already had two of those BAM free tote bags.

Remember Me? is about Lexi, who wakes up one day after an accident and discovers that she can't remember the last three years of her life. And her life has totally changed in three years, she's got a new job, expensive clothes, and a handsome husband, who, as far as she can remember, she's never met before. At first, Lexi feels like she's magically landed into the dream life. But as she begins to find out more about the person she's become, she realizes her fairytale life might not be as amazing as it seems.

I really enjoyed this book. Sure, it's kind of shallow, cliche, and maybe a little too chick lit-y for my taste (I mean, how many times do you need to namedrop designer clothing labels?), but I still found it fun and interesting. I was expecting a little more umm... mystery or excitement or something than it actually had, but it was still good enough to keep me turning pages.

So, am I glad I ended up buying it? Was it worth it? Absolutely. I got a fun new book and my third free tote bag. Of course it was worth it!

Who doesn't love a good scifi/dystopian book?

Thanks to my fantastic friend Kate for suggesting a wonderful new young adult scifi/dystopian book to me. The book is Across the Universe by Beth Revis. I totally loved this book, and really, how could I not? It had all the fascinating new ideas and concepts and social commentary of a good dystopian novel, spaceships and cryogenically frozen people and other science-y stuff that you'd find in a good science fiction story, and all those great young adult coming-of-age and romance themes. Really, what's not to like?

I don't want to tell you much about the plot, because I read some reviews that told too much of the plot and spoiled parts of the book for me. But briefly, the book begins as narrator Amy and her parents prepare to be cryogenically frozen and then travel via spaceship to a far away planet. The book's narration alternates between Amy and Elder, a passenger aboard the spaceship many years into its journey to the new planet. Amy's story captured me right away. It took me a little longer to be interested in Elder's chapters, but pretty soon I couldn't put down the book at all. And the best part is, I'm pretty sure this book is the start of a new series. Fantastic! I can't wait for the next one.

Now don't get too excited. On a scale of 1 to The Hunger Games, it's not quite up there with THG. But it is still a really good book. And you should probably read it.