Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Dystopian Books

Happy Tuesday! I am jazzed for this week's Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish which is a great way to find out what books are catching people's attention. This week, I offer a list of the best Dystopian books I have come across.  (It is really a list of "creepy places I would never want to live but am fascinated by in book form")

1. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Atwood is a master dystopian-world-inventor.

2. The Hunger Games triology. (obvi, PEETA is there).

3. Divergent by Veronica Roth (I am MEH on this but Goosie Mama thinks it is far superior to the Hunger Games. Things got heated on two separate occasions last Friday about this. Once via text, once at the bar, OPPS. Agree to disagree)

4.The Giver by Louis Lowry. When that color pops, it is crazy good.

5. The Maze Runner by James Daschner. These kids and their lingo are cool. I wish the last book wasn't such a mindblowing dissapointment. I was so jazzed by books one and two, and tried to explain all the layers of conspiracy to whoever would listen.

6. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. I have only read the first of this triology, but it was hang-on-the-edge-of-your-seat creepy. I am going to get around to finishing it.

7. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. NOTE: THIS IS PROBABLY one of the only fun Dystopian worlds in existence. They treat Shakespeare's plays like people treat the Rocky Horror Picture Show! You can be a tourist inside a book! The Bad Guy's name is literally Mr. Schitt. It is so beyond inventive and fun.

8. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut (for Crazy Camper, who is currently camping and can't weigh in, but is a big fan)
9. Sunshine by Robin McKinley. Why aren't more people loving this vampire tale?

(and a honorary Whiskey Sour to my fav, Kevin Cosner (you dance with those wolves!) for staring in two of the worst dystopian movies of all time--The Postman and Waterworld. Crazy Camper and I used to threaten to show Waterworld when the kids were bad at the camp where we had summer jobs once upon a time. Result=scared straight.)

   

Review: The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Oh my word! This book has proven me wrong about the things I (thought) I loved to hate in YA fiction. Things I usually shy away from include but are not limited to: teenagers dying from tragic deaths and the ensuing grief; poetry inserted in the text; love triangles. Well, I must have drank the Coolaid because I loved loved loved The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson.

 "Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life - and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey's boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie's own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they're the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But just like their celestial counterparts, they can't collide without the whole wide world exploding." (Good Reads)

This writing is true-blue real-deal moving writing--the world through Lennie's eyes is an amazing perspective. Nelson has an extraordinary way with words. The way she describes Lennie's grief feels so real and earnest. Usually I am wary of poetry inserted in a book but it feels organic here and so heartbreaking as Len wanders around dropping bits of her story in verse on scraps of paper, wrappers, sheet music, even carved into trees. But the story was remarkably happy  as well--I laughed out loud when Gran "took a shine" to Joe and the Fontaine boys (as did I) and had them feng-shui-ing the house!! Charm overload there with the exuberance for life, sunny smiles, and those bat.bat.bat. eye lashes.

Originality: 6. The quirky cast of supporting characters and live triangle isn't new, but I liked these crazy peeps.
Absurdity: 1. There is nothing absurd here that I could find (but being in the band was totally OK in my high school too)
Level of Paranormal Romance: 9. Serious swoon happening here. And I was totally cool with it. (no paranormal, pour a little of your whiskey sour out for all the missing fairies/faeries/vampires).
Level of Harry-Potter-ness: 9. The structure of how the story is told through the poems and Lennie's very honest/funny/sad view of the world stands out. It is rather breathtaking.

Addendum from Goosie Mama: "That book made me cry it was unbearably sweet and so well written!"

NPR likes YA, too!

Great piece at NPR from All Things Considered on Lauren Oliver's Pandemonium, The Hunger Games, and the world of YA dystopian fiction. You can listen here at NPR's website.  And they interview Sarah P. from Forever Young Adult that is my absolute fav book blog site. They are VERY funny people. They are the people behind the

 and  T-shirts!

Crazy Camper found this interview, and I think Sweet Tea is absolutely right in that this is the quote of the day:

 "Of course, a dystopian world WITH vampires? That's another story."

Review: The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

In Rae Carson's The Girl of Fire and Thorns Elisa is a young, unremarkable princess who on her sixteenth birthday, becomes the secret wife of a handsome king—a king whose country is in turmoil.  As a chosen one (she has a stone in her belly button, CLEARLY a sign of greatness.....UM WHAT!? moving on....) her Godstone marks her as possessing special powers/the potential to do great things, but Elisa has no idea what her talents may be or what her role is in the escalating tensions among the neighboring nations.  Now, this might sound weird: There is lots of praying and lots of court intrigue. And discussion of Elisa's food-scarfing and sweating (at least in the beginning). Buuuttt this is not a boring book! No matter how those last couple of facts come across!


Bear with it, and get to the good part where people start running around the desert being kidnapped/becoming revolutionaries/making friends. This book grew on me. I would be in with these desert revolutionaries any day, even if the main character spends too long being a wet noodle at the start. Get spicy, already! AND, without giving too much away I would like to say that I was SHOCKED when Humberto was interrupted mid-sentence near the end of the book. Anyone know what I mean!?!? GASP! I literally had to take some time to recover.

Originality: 6, only because while the whole Godstone thing is new, I'm not so into it. It kept reminding me of having someone pull on your belly button, which is the worst.

Absurdity: 6: Because I have no idea what the title of this book refers to. I mean, I read it, but I still don't know. And Godstone=troll doll???

Level of Paranormal Romance: 5: of COURSE there is a love interest. I mean, be real, this is YA fiction here.  
Level of Harry-Potter-ness: today this 6 goes out to Carson's fully developed, detailed world. There is no slap-dashery here!

WHICH Leads me to....

Waiting on Wednesday: Crown of Embers by Rae Carson

Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by Breaking the Spine, is dedicated to books we just can't wait to read. And I am definety interested to see what happens in the second installment of the Fire and Thorns (ps, could that be the worst series name ever? poss.) books by Rae Carson. The Crown of Embers isn't out until the fall, but I will be getting involved then. It is making this WoW because they just released the cover....... which to me looks like they let some intern alone with paintshop and clipart for a while and called it a day. WHAT IS GOING ON.


These covers are just so...so.... I don't even know. It's not ok. But do not let that keep you from a good read:


"Elisa is the hero of her country. She led her people to victory against a terrifying enemy, and now she is their queen. But she is only seventeen years old. Her rivals may have simply retreated, choosing stealth over battle. And no one within her court trusts her-except Hector, the commander of the royal guard, and her companions. As the country begins to crumble beneath her and her enemies emerge from the shadows, Elisa will take another journey. With a one-eyed warrior, a loyal friend, an enemy defector, and the man she is falling in love with, Elisa crosses the ocean in search of the perilous, uncharted, and mythical source of the Godstone’s power. That is not all she finds." (Good Reads summary)

Top Ten Tuesday: Hello, Gorgeous (book covers)

Hello from YA and WS land!  Today the peeps at The Broke and the Bookish have given us all permission to judge books by their covers with today's Top Ten Tuesday. (Which, lets be serious, I do all the time when I am browsing at the library). I love my Nook, but there is something to be said for a real hardcover book with the glossy plastic cover from the library.

It is probably once a week that my roommate comes into my room, rolls her eyes, and says 'WHAT are you reading?!' usually it is because there is a fairy/girl swimming in a prom dress/shinny silver background to my book. THE HORROR, THE HORROR (thanks, J. Conrad). Sometimes I can convince her its ok. But not always. For example on Sunday, she caught me a book that said on the back "She was cyborg, and she would never go to the ball." Once she regained the ability to speak, I tried to explain that Cinder was a pretty cool mechanic, but it was a hard sell!

Here, in no particular order, are my Top (8) Covers I like and am not embarrassed by:
1. A Million Suns, Beth Revis. I know there was all the hullabaloo about the cover of Across the Universe, but I love these covers on Beth Revis's series.

2. Hourglass, Myra McEntire.  I have already made the case for this. Its cool. and it reminds Goosie Mama of Taylor Swift, which is my mind is almost always a good thing.

3. Anna Dressed in Blood, Kendare Blake.

4. The Romantics, Galt Niederhoffer. Disclaimer: my high school girlfriends and I read this together, and did NOT give it two thumbs up--every character is a miserable person. BUT I can't help but love the cover.

5. The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern. The cover is gorgeous, and the writing is very visual, but my favorite were the interior designs.

6. Delirum, Lauren Oliver. The sequel cannot compare.

7.The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fizgerald. (CLASSIC)

8. Rules of Civility, Amor Towles. Classy act, all the way.

In My Mailbox, Birthday edition

For a birthday edition of In My Mailbox hosted by The Story Siren:

For my birthday, one of my lovely roommates gave me The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. This book has been everywhere lately, and I am excited to read it, esp. since I have heard such great stuff from people who are usually suspicious of YA and I am sometimes hesitant about terminal-cancer teen lit ( I mean, with good reason, right!?) but now here it is for me to enjoy. And its hardcover! I love hardcover!

Also, Green was noted in the New York Magazine's amazing Approval Matrix (commenting on weekly political and cultural phenomena) this week for being awesome:




If you don't read the Approval Matrix, its hilarious, get involved. And on a personal note, a COMBO OF YA FICTION AND HISTORY LECTURES!?!?! this guy needs to be my friend!!

Waiting on Wednesday: Timepiece by Myra McEntire

Good Morning on this extra slice of February! This is a Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by Breaking the Spine, devoted to my newest fling: magical/supernatural southern small towns. By that I mean, My McEntire's Hourglass series.

I read Hourglass in a single gulp yesterday. Starting with Sarah Addison Allen's The Girl Who Chased the Moon and followed by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl's Beautiful Creatures I am into these southern towns dripping with charm/Spanish moss/crazy paranormal show-downs.

Emerson Cole fights to feel in control of her life as swooning Southern Belles, jazz trios, and hippies appear as visions whenever and wherever. Is she crazy? When her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from the mysterious Hourglass organization, Emerson reluctantly agrees to what she think is another quack cure. But Michael Weaver, the hunky, mysterious college sophomore knows she isn’t crazy, but what is that crazy electric (literally, lights burst) connection between the two? (well at least he is not 16- SUCCESS).  As Emerson discovers the mystery of her visions, Hourglass, and a murder, there is no time to quit- you just must know what’s going to happen. The sequel Timepiece comes out this spring, and I know the ARC is around out there, but I am looking forward to the official this Waitin' on Wednesday! 


There are lots of plot elements that are waiting to be developed: are the villains really villains? What the what is causing Emerson's visions to worsen? How does Lily fit into all of this? Does Kaleb have any other tattoos?(oooook that one might not be a crucial plot issue). 


Get involved with Timespiece ( the covers! I die!) and leave your WoW.

Review: Unbroken by Laura Hillebrand

From the moment I cracked open (okay, downloaded) the first page of this novel, I was totally obsessed. Like take-the-escalator-instead-of-the-stairs-so-I-can-get-in-two-more-paragraphs type of obsessed. 

Beside the fact that I was Stress Reading (as in, the state of stress in which one frantically reads through a book in order to not have your loan end mid-chapter on your library e-book), I was a little scared about the length of the book as it was displayed on my Kindle. Basically, for those who don't know, the Kindle gives you little dots that indicate the length of the book you're currently reading. This book had almost as many dots as the width of the screen - gasp! - so I knew I had to put the pedal to the metal to crank this puppy out.

Well, like I said, this book was fabulous (well, it was actually very, very graphic in its depictions of the absolute horror of POW camps in Japan during the Second World War) and I was so excited - and frankly, a little perplexed - when I realized I was 75% of the way through and the story seemed to be winding down. WHAT was going to happen? Did the Japanese come to the US and steal Louis Zamperini back? Was he going to win that elusive Olympic medal?! OMG OMG!?!!

Op...nope, well lookie there, there are about a hundred pages of footnotes. Boo. Why was this disappointing? I didn't want the story to end! It was so good - wah, I'm still sad I'm not reading it anymore.

So, how to rate this? Well, I don't know that I can really use our typical YA scale so perhaps a little "free balling" here to liven things up:

• Historical Accuracy: Um, check out aforementioned novel-within-a-novel of footnotes. 10!
• Level of Harry Potterness: Bang on writing - 25!
• Awesomeness: 9
• Amazing Epicness: 9
• First Member of the Official Goosie Mama Book Club (Oprah who?)? YUP!

On to the next!

Top Ten Tuesday: An Interpretation

Good Morning! Grad Student here! This is a (brief) nod of the cap to the Broke and the Bookish's weekly "Top Ten Tuesday" feature. This week's theme is Top Ten Book's I Would Give a Theme Song To. This is hard for my brain to figure out, apparently. I listen to music all day long, and read fiction all night (seriously, I am tired right now) but I cannot for the life of me match these two things up.

LUCKILY/IN LIEU OF there are some seriously fabulous authors out there who do.

1. I have wanted to share this playlist made by Erin Morgenstern who wrote the surreal and wonderful The Night Circus. If you haven't gotten involved with this book, so do ASAP. Morgenstern did an interview over at Largehearted Boy, a music blog, that goes into great detail about each song she would add to a playlist for her book (click the link to see it all)  including Cosmic Love by Florence and the Machine (who Crazy Camper loves) and Fleet Foxes.  My favorite, though, is 
"Prelude" and "Rooftop," Bernard Herrmann (from the Vertigo film score) its perfect for this book! 

2. You know I think Maggie Stiefvater can do no wrong, and her playlist for Shiver is amazing. I love Set Fire to the Third Bar by Snow Patrol for this book.

Hope you have the time to check out these two author lists more, its neat insight into the writing process (and some great music). Can't wait to see what other people are actually talented enough to come up with!