We're an Open Book
In summer 2012 Jess attempted to read every Sarah Dessen novel in publication order and this winter I’m attempting a similar feat with David Levithan. If you are contemporary YA reader, Levithan’s mix of prose, eccentricity, humor and storytelling is something you have to experience.
From Fall 2013 – Fall 2014 I will be discussing and reviewing most of David Levithan’s novels ending with his newest National Book Award Nominated novel, Two Boys Kissing.
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Synopsis: Sisters Natalie and Alice Kessler were close, until adolescence wrenched them apart. Natalie is headstrong, manipulative—and beautiful; Alice is a dreamer who loves books and birds. During their family’s summer holiday at the lake, Alice falls under the thrall of a struggling young painter, Thomas Bayber, in whom she finds a kindred spirit. Natalie, however, remains strangely unmoved, sitting for a family portrait with surprising indifference. But by the end of the summer, three lives are shattered.In The Gravity of Birds histories and memories refuse to stay buried; in the end only the excavation of the past will enable its survivors to love again
I chose this audiobook for two reasons; 1.) I think the narrator, Cassandra Campbell, is amazing and 2.) I wanted to read more adult “literary-ish” novels….
- Release Date: September 17th 2013
- Pages: 448 Pages
- Genre: Gothic/Magic Realism/Supernatural/ Paranormal ???
- Publisher: Scholastic
Synopsis: Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after...
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- Release Date: September 24th 2013
- Pages: 352
- Genre: Contemporary/ Social Issues
- Publisher: Bloomsbury
Synopsis: As a child from her large and loving family, and on the run with her mom for more than ten years, Callie has only the barest idea of what normal life might be like. She’s never had a home, never gone to school, and has gotten most of her meals from laundromat vending machines. Her dreams are haunted by memories she’d like to forget completely. But when Callie’s mom is finally arrested for kidnapping her, and Callie’s real dad whisks her back to what would have been her life, in a small town in Florida, Callie must find a way to leave the past behind. She must learn to be part of a family. And she must believe that love–even with someone who seems an improbable choice–is more than just a possibility.
Kidnapped by her mother as a child, 17-year-old Callie has spent her entire life on the run. When her mother is finally arrested, Callie is returned to a father she never knew in the close-knit Greek-American tourist town of Tarpon Hills, Florida. But for a girl who spent most of her life on her own joining this loving Greek family is more of a struggle than a happy reunion.…
“When you’re twenty-one, life is a roadmap. It’s only when you get to be twenty-five or so that you begin to suspect that you’ve been looking at the map upside down, and not until you’re forty are you entirely sure. By the time you’re sixty, take it from me, you’re fucking lost.”
― Stephen King, Joyland
Release Date: June 4th 2013
Pages: 288
Hours: 7 hours and 33 minutes
Publisher: Hard Case Crimes
Audio Publisher: Simon and Schuster Audio
Yep, I’m reviewing an adult book. I’ve been listening to the Book Riot podcast lately where they discuss mainly adult books, and it’s made me want to get into more adult lit. Now, I read a few of Stephen King’s well known short stories like Children of the Corn and The Langoliers in high school. And while I never found the stories interesting enough to take on a full novel, I remember the stories and writing were good, so I figured I’d start my adult reviewing with Stephen King….
- Release Date: August 20th 2013
- Publisher: Amulet Books (Abrams)
- Pages: 336
- Genre: Contemporary
Synopsis: For as long as she can remember, Wren Gray’s goal has been to please her parents. But as high school graduation nears, so does an uncomfortable realization: Pleasing her parents once overlapped with pleasing herself, but now . . . not so much. Wren needs to honor her own desires, but how can she if she doesn’t even know what they are?
It’s all ending for Wren Gray…