Kate Mester
Received this as a present from an awesome librarian friend, who said I would love it. Other than her great recommendation, I hadn't heard of Manson before, so didn't have expectations. His writing is of the moment and funny, and I enjoyed his Buddhism-light meets philosophy meets pop-culture advice. Nothing new but wrapped in a clever and concise package. Enjoyable and definitely recommend as book for discussing with a partner/friend/book group.
Alan reads the audio himself, so listen if you're going to read it. I didn't know much about him other than that I enjoy him in films, so I had no expectations going in. He truly has a heartbreaking childhood story and he shares it with with, wisdom, and great reflection. I'd like to find and watch the episode about his grandfather after reading this. If you like memoirs or family stories, definitely listen.
NC HS BOB has second book on reading list (which always drives me nuts) so need to read this first! Once the plot started going de la Pena really moved. Very realistic apocalyptic violence, with dead bodies and murder, etc. so certainly for older teen audiences. Other than Shy, the characters felt like stereotypical tropes, which is surprising coming from de la Pena. Think teens will be sucked into the fast pace and the ending is such a cliffhanger they'll want to read the second.
Didn't think at first that I would necessarily enjoy this collection of short stories but the writing was wonderful and the way the characters were interwoven was brilliant and lovely. Also, some of his lines were truly hilarious. Very well done. The audio was good, but the accent work was not the best I've heard.
Really enjoyable and well written. Juliet was such a vibrant character that readers need more of. Queer/feminist theory didacticism slowed it down in a few places, and could have been woven into the plot perhaps more organically, as there were a few times the book felt more like a “message” than a story. Looking forward to more from Rivera, especially her America Marvel series.
Honestly, probably would have quit if this wasn't on the HBOB list. The plot, when it's happening, is interesting in a classic adventure tale way, but there are so many infodumps between plot snippets that it was hard to keep listening, even with Will Wheaton reading. Rarely say this, but think it will be a better movie, with editing.
Lauren reads the audio, so definitely recommend spending the 4 1/2 hours in a friendly chat with her! The book was as light and fun and enjoyable as I expected, but do make sure you have a copy of the book, or that your eBook/eAudio has a picture file, because she refers to each pic as it comes up in moments of her story, and seeing them certainly adds to the enjoyment.
Her writing is genuinely exquisite and compulsively readable, with beautiful word choices. That she is a talented writer is not in question. She doesn't have to be likable and has fully opened herself up to judgement, however in a memoir meant to question her own choices, she doesn't seem to do much true examination of her motives. I found it incredibly problematic that that she was still referring to her former (trans) lover as she or glossing over in a sentence or two about the cushiony pillow of her privilege, as if that didn't play a major part in the outcome of her story. Also, ending her story in a marriage plot trope really lost much of my goodwill towards the story.
The staging seems really great, so I bet I would be wowed by the immersive experience and special effects, but Tiffany's screenplay was labored. JK's writing and wordplay have always been excellent and much more subtle. Perhaps I don't know theater well enough, and maybe you do need dialogue like this to explain emotion or action, but the dialogue was so clunky and obvious and kept spelling out (ha) the obvious emotions as opposed to letting the viewer/reader understand or infer them.
Will definitely be an attention grabber for students - the action is faced paced and the mystery is still a cliff-hanger by the end. It's genuinely creepy and the art and color story is in good service to the plot and creep-factor. Scott's dialogue was better in the Uglies series. He had some truly bad repeated catchphrases in the Leviathan series and the same is true here here as well, particularly the doll's stilted dialogue - is she cussing or saying fudge, which is it? I'm also all for authentic swears in a teen book, but this just feels like he threw in a few F*'s to try to edge-up the book, they didn't land well and felt unnecessary a few times. Overall, interested to see where this series goes.
I love Adam Rapp but even with Mike Cavallero's good art (often better than the story), the story isn't fully realized. I'm not sure Rapp can translate his ideas to this format. The world and characters were underdeveloped and there wasn't enough investment to build to the tragic ending (though use of color gave emotion, but too little, too late). Seemed interesting but a real swing and a miss.
Fluffy and fun, but not particularly well written, often with repetitive and didactic dialogue (though with a good message - self-positivity, but I don't need EVERY inner monologue/dialogue to be a speech). Characters were diverse in so many great ways (bisexual, on the autism spectrum, etc.) and it was the first book I've read that took place entirely at a con. Wilde got a book out of a winning fanfic entry on Wattpad, so it reads like good fanfic, but there's certainly a place and a teen audience for this.
Appreciated a book about an intersex character that makes clear the difference between sex, gender identity, and sexuality. Good diversity of secondary characters and glad that all the characters made responsible choices in their teen decisions (sex with condoms and drinking with DDs and parental consequences). However, the writing was just so/so, the running was ok but not super realistic to track athletes, and there was too much of a “marriage plot” with the book ending only when the female-identifying main character received positive affirmation of desire from her male object of interest. Had a chance to really make this book super affirming and kind of blew it with such a stereotypical ending and lack of attention to details. 3/5
Jason Reynolds is even better at the MG level! Loved Castle/Ghost, his grey-area character nuances, and the diversity of supporting characters (getting their own books soon, hopefully). Audio was excellent and gave distinct voices to the many characters, especially nailing Ghost (“I could feel the altercationess rising” is one of my all time favorite lines). I have known so many of these characters in real life, and I know kids will strongly embrace this realistic reflection of their realities.
The audiobook was excellent - great voices, music, & production. I loved the Canterbury tales, so I had a real soft spot for this style, but I'm not sure how many middle grade students are going to stick around for something so long and pretty obtuse. The timeless themes and messages of acceptance and love and strength of friendship and community were beautiful, and parts of the book are laugh-out-loud humorous. I felt a true affinity for the characters, and would be curious to see whether this book was a hit with the intended audience and not just adults.
I've only listened to 2 essays so far, and neither were great, and yes,this is on me because I didn't check to see the list of contributing authors - but Lionel Shriver is included here. Yep, you may remember Lionel Shriver from such things as using the Brisbane Writers Festival to publicly argue FOR cultural appropriation. Annnnd I'm done here. In case you need further opinions to solidify the point that Lionel Shriver's racist dreck is not worth your eyeballs or ears, I just saw this gem of a 1-star review from fellow Goodreadser Rana from Apr 24, 2015:
ETA: I thought more about this and I remembered the exact point at which I stopped reading. Lionel Shriver's essay; it was horrifyingly racist in that she laments that her choice not to have kids means she won't be passing along her intelligent and literary European genes. If I feel, oh, a little wistful about the fact that the country of my birth, the United States, will probably within my lifetime no longer be peopled in majority by those of European extraction like me, that passing dismay has never been considerable enough for me to inconvenience myself by giving lifts to football practice. Her whole essay was about how it was so sad that her white and educated friends weren't having babies but that developing countries and immigrants were. Yep, that was when I stopped reading.