Chloe
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of the BEST BOOK YOU'RE NOT READING
CONTEST!!!
thank you to everyone who entered. Also remember you can still enter the SHADOW OF NIGHT CONTEST.
Link is on the right!!!!
This is one book that has always stayed with me. The idea of there being a place where you go after you've passed on to another plane just resonates with me. I guess with what happened last week, I'm feeling a bit depressed and morose. Liz Hall has died and has woken up on a ship taking her to Elsewhere. She's not sure what is going on and needs a guide to tell her what is going on. I loved the idea of getting there and aging backwards, but to Liz that is not what she wants. She wants to have normal teenage experiences.
I am a huge Gabrielle Zevin fan and just devour all her books when they come out. I urge everyone who has ever had questions about the afterlife and death in general to read this book. I came out a blubbering mess, but I felt
good about it.
From Booklist:
"Having sailed into Elsewhere's port aboard a cruise ship populated by mostly elderly passengers, 15-year-old head-trauma victim Liz Hall does not go gently into Elsewhere's endless summer. She is despairing, intractable, sullen, and understandably furious: "You mean I'll never go to college or get married or get big boobs or live on my own or get my driver's license or fall in love?" She rejects her new existence, spending endless hours keeping tabs on surviving family and friends through magical coin-operated telescopes, and refusing to take the suggestions offered by a well-meaning Office of Acclimation. Eventually, though, she begins to listen. She takes a job counseling deceased pets, forges an unexpected romance with a young man struggling with heartbreaks, and finds simple joy in the awareness that "a life is a good story . . . even a crazy, backward life like hers." Periodic visits with an increasingly youthful Liz, concluding with her journey down the "River" to be reborn, bring the novel to a graceful, seamless close."
From Goodreads:
"Welcome to Elsewhere. It is warm, with a breeze, and the beaches are marvelous. It’s quiet and peaceful. You can’t get sick or any older. Curious to see new paintings by Picasso? Swing by one of Elsewhere’s museums. Need to talk to someone about your problems? Stop by Marilyn Monroe’s psychiatric practice. This moving, often funny book about grief, death, and loss will stay with the reader long after the last page is turned. Elsewhere is where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different. Here Liz will age backward from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth. But Liz w
I'm gonna harken to a classic and a book that will probably show up on a few high school reading lists this summer. Also, because I think it is important book for teens to read. I know this book changed the way I looked at a lot of people in my life. In high school regardless of time period there will always be cliques or the haves and the have nots. It's frustrating for teens who don't quite belong in any group. This book was published in 1967 and I still think it holds up today with all the problems that our teenagers deal with now. Bullying, coming out, making a stand. So the book I present to you is:
I went through and S.E. Hinton phase and read just about everything she wrote and am sad that she hasn't written anything nearly as beautiful and wonderful as this book. Again, I think this book
is important even after 45 years. Some books don't age well and are very dated, but I know that I can go back to this book and see myself in some of the characters. Ponyboy, the dreamer, the writer. Johnny, the tragic one and Dallas, the loner. We must all Stay Gold. Even when things seem to be at their worst. If there is a book that you need to read this summer for school, grab this one and dig in. It really is magical.
I can't believe I'm up to number 10. I really didn't think I'd be able to come up with three books never mind 10! This book is one of the first books that I reviewed ever. I remember reading it and just falling in love with the story, the characters and the author. She is such a fantastic person and was actually living in Singapore before heading back to the US.
This book is told in dive journals and poems. You really get a sense of these two characters and the struggles they go through as the attraction between the two gets heavier. Morrison weaves religion into the story without getting preachy and atheism again without getting preachy. I liked the idea that Leesie has very deep-rooted religious feelings and Michael's only religion was diving. Even after losing his parents in a horrific deep sea accident.
From Goodreads:
Leesie Hunt has many rules: No kissing. No sex. No dating outside the Mormon faith. When Michael Walden, a deep-sea diver who lost his parents in a violent hurricane, arrives in town, Leesie sees someone who needs her. They fall for one another, even though his dreams are tied to the depths of the ocean and hers to salvation above.
Will their intense chemistry be too strong to resist?
Leesie and Michael must make the hardest choice of their lives: whether to follow their beliefs or their hearts.
Readers will be swept away by this tale of forbidden romance told in online chats, Leesie's chapbook poems, and Michael's dive log. It's as steamy as Twilight and just as clean.
I just happened to check amazon for the ranking of this book and was surprised at what I found. It's currently ranked at #1,703,859. That is very low on the list considering this book is absolutely fantastic! If you like a story that is an epic love story or just an epic story, then this one is for you. And if you read this now or in the upcoming weeks, the second book in the series is out at the end of the month, so you can read both books at once! I bet you're wondering what book it is, aren't you? I will add that I am a bit biased because this author is a Massachusetts native and I love pushing local authors! So here ya go:
Starcrossed is the story of Helen Hamilton and Lucas Delos. When Helen first comes across him, the rage inside of her is so great that she literally wants to kill him. It always seems to happen when she sees images of three girls crying. And so, Helen learns that she is a scion and she is the Helen from Trojan War and Lucas is the love of her life, Paris. Yeah, we get the Iliad in a young adult form! I loved this book and it's a meaty piece of work. Josie Angelini knows her Greek history and she deftly weaves Homer's epic poem into a beautiful novel. I think everyone should read this book and fall in love with these characters just like I did. The second book, Dreamless, comes out at the end of April and is just as fantastic as the first one. I hope these characters continue on for a while.
From Goodreads:
Set on the island of Nantucket, STARCROSSED tells the tale of Helen Hamilton, a young woman whose destiny is forever altered when she meets Lucas Delos and tries to kill him in front of her entire high school. Which is terribly inconvenient, not only because Lucas is the most beautiful boy on the island, but also because Helen is so achingly shy she suffers physical pain whenever she is given too much attention.
Making matters worse, Helen is beginning to suspect she’s going crazy. Whenever she’s near Lucas or any member of his family she sees the ghostly apparitions of three women weeping bloody tears, and suffers the burd
This one is a fairly new book, but I looked on Amazon and saw that it was listed at number #200,822 which isn't terribly bad, but I think a bump up is called for. I fell in love with this book and then forced it upon my sister in law, who also loved it. I present to you...
A modern-retelling of the classic, JANE EYRE, by Charlotte Bronte. I really enjoyed this update. I used to read Jane Austen fan fiction, even writing it about 14 years ago. But this is so far removed from fan fiction, it is really good story. It follows the classic, but then it takes modern times into effect and you get a very believable girl who falls in love with her employer. This was one of those books that you just wanted to savor every bit of it and don't want it to end.
From Goodreads:
Forced to drop out of an esteemed East Coast college after the sudden death of her parents, Jane Moore takes a nanny job at Thornfield Park, the estate of Nico Rathburn, a world-famous rock star on the brink of a huge comeback. Practical and independent, Jane reluctantly becomes entranced by her magnetic and brooding employer and finds herself in the midst of a forbidden romance.
But there's a mystery at Thornfield, and Jane's much-envied relationship with Nico is soon tested by an agonizing secret from his past. Torn between her feelings for Nico and his fateful secret, Jane must decide: Does being true to herself mean giving up on true love?
An irresistible romance interwoven with a darkly engrossing mystery, this contemporary retelling of the beloved classic Jane Eyre promises to enchant a new generation of readers.
