"The Giver" by Lois Lowry~Read Soon!

BACK IN THE STACKS: "The Giver" by Lois Lowry

BACK IN THE STACKS:


I chose this classic, award-winning novel for my Bookish Libraria Blog as a "Back in the Stacks" review book this past week.

It's actually, unbeknownst to me prior to my reading it, a dystopian novel about the coming of age and the coming to wisdom and understanding of a young boy in a futuristic society. A book I missed reading in school, but which my children were exposed to in their time, this is somewhat dated in spots; I felt, but held the same sort of message that we hear and see in our own world and society today through a plethora of young adult literature. That alone makes it worthy of reading!

It's a small book, but every page is profound. Lois Lowry knows how to write exactly like my Rhetoric professor wanted us to write...with precision and acuracy. Her every word has purpose and meaning. And, in that instance, we discover that we need to pay attention, acutely, to what she's telling us. This is a serious book with a warning for young and old, alike.

I found it most poignant that Ms Lowry wrote "The Giver" for young people at their pivitol age. It's a book that is meant to make them consider the society they are a part of without a doubt, but it's also meant to make them question the world and the ways of life they've taken for granted. It hopes, it seems, to help them shed the scales from their eyes and take the plugs from their ears...to have the courage to rise up against the norm. For that alone, I found it worthy of the Newberry Prize.

It seems to me that as adults we fear young people. We want to corral them, to keep them in check, to make sure they don't skate board near the Library. There's alot about them that reeks of uncontrollable power and unhinged disaster. There's impulse on edge, and the half-here-and-half-there sense of what's going to really damage their lives and the lives around them, and what's not. Because of this, teens and pre-teens have this magical quality to them...this freshness of vision coupled with this wildness of vision like the boys in "Lord of the Flies," like those vampires and psychics and witches they "wanna be" in the YA novels.

In "The Giver" we see such power in the young protagonist. He is pent up and on the verge of destruction in several instances. We see him risk breaking serious rules only to see him pull back and turn to the side of wisdom to protect those he loves. This is the quality that Lois Lowry is telling the young to emulate, this is the hidden treasure that the Giver has to offer~this potential to create a new system lovingly, or simply to destroy mindlessly.

Ms Lowry acknowledges the terrible strength and power of the young adult to be victorious or to vanquish, and offers an instruction of vision, values and valor. In a society where everything is ordered, equal, peaceful and happy...life is not valued, and people deemed less than fit for society are done away with like old newspaper.

"The Giver" is a book worthy of literary and humanitarian awards, and it's a book worthy of being the classic it's become.

I strongly recommend "The Giver" to everyone, young and old, who hasn't already read it...and even to those who have. It's a good time to reread this book. It's an especially good time to read it...

I look forward to the up-coming movie!

Deborah/TheBookishDame

"Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld~YA Dystopian

SUMMARY :

Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.

But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world -- and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :

Published by:  Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse
Pages:  406
Genre:  YA SyFy/Dystopian
Series:  1 of 3 and Companion Novel
Author:  Scott Westerfeld
Website:  Scott Westerfeld


ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

Scott Westerfeld is me. I’m the author of eighteen novels. Five are for adults, and the other thirteen for young adults.

I’ve also been an occasional ghost writer, which is like driving someone else’s car really, really fast for lots of money. (I could tell you what famous authors I ghost-wrote for, but then I’d have to kill you. My name can be found on three Powerpuff Girl choose your own adventures, however.) In my artsy days, I wrote music for artsy downtown New York dancers, some of which can be found at the bottom of my video page.

For my early adult books, check out the bottom of this page. Note that they aren’t particularly suitable for children.

I’m best known for my four sets of books for young adults. The most recent is the Leviathan trilogy. It’s a steampunk retelling of World War I, illustrated by the incomparable Keith Thompson. It features adventure, walking machines, and living airships! Read more about it here.

My most famous works are those of the Uglies series, set in a future where cosmetic surgery is compulsory when you turn 16, making everyone beautiful. Of course, there are some people who want to keep their own faces . . . and that’s not okay with the government. The series consists of a trilogy—Uglies, Pretties and Specials—as well as a companion novel, Extras.

I’ve written another YA trilogy called Midnighters, a tale of five teenagers born on the stroke of midnight, for whom time freezes every night, revealing a dark and terrible hidden world. My ancient, dorky website for the series is here.

I also have a set of books which is often called “The New York Trilogy,” three novels all set in contemporary New York, but not a real trilogy. The first is So Yesterday, about a cool hunter who runs afoul of a plot to end consumerism. The second is called Peeps, a “vampire” novel. The third is The Last Days, set in the same world as Peeps.

I was born in Texas, and split my time between New York City and Sydney, Australia. (I have more frequent flyer miles than you do.) You can read many personal details of my life on my blog. And consult the Scott fact sheet here


FABULOUS STUDENT VIDEO OF "UGLIES!"

THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

Right out of the chute, the first YA fiction of the year I've read..."The Uglies"...and it's high time I did!  This is a dystopian series that the YAs have been raving about for years, and I have been putting on the back burner hoping to get to "someday."  I'm so glad I had a listless day this week and decided to pick up something unexpected, my hand landing on this one.  I can now see what all the hype has been about.

Scott Westerfeld is an interesting author.  He keeps the book right on the edge of gripping.  It took me nearly 80 pages before I found anything that really grabbed me and made me interested enough to keep reading to the end of this one. (Honestly, if it weren't for my readers, I would have tanked!)   I think his purpose was to pull in the pre- and teen group around that 16 year old target, and it was a bit difficult for someone my age to tag along. Or, maybe it was just slow...you know?

Once he got midway into the novel, however, I felt a shift in his writing and it became more "ageless," more befitting of a dystopian that any of us could relate to.  His main character, Tally, seemed not only to come of age in the story, but in the writing of his novel, itself.

This book is, of course, fraught with many questions about the angst of teens and adults, alike, having to do with our physical beauty.  But, it also touches upon our treatment of genetics, the environment and the raising of children, among other things.  There are a good deal of questions posed in the story, and the book would be a great one for a book group of adults regardless of its slow up-take.

While I can't wholeheartedly recommend this for all adult readers, I would say this is one YAs will probably love, and the adventurous adult should take a look at.  "Uglies" is the first in a trilogy which is a huge come-on for YAs who love to "marathon" read and collect books like this.

Will I be reading the next book in the series?  No, thank you.  But, I did enjoy the first one...  :]


3.5 stars                    Deborah/TheBookishDame

"Allegiant" by Veronica Roth~Slogging Through...

SUMMARY :

What if your whole world was a lie?
What if a single revelation—like a single choice—changed everything?
What if love and loyalty made you do things you never expected?
The explosive conclusion to Veronica Roth's #1 New York Times bestselling Divergent trilogy reveals the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in Divergent and Insurgent.


PARTICULARS OF THIS BOOK :

Published by:  Harper Collins Publishers
Pages:  544
Genre:  YA Fiction/Dystopian
Series:  #3 Divergent
Author:  Veronica Roth
Website:  http://veronicarothbooks.com


MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

 

Veronica Roth is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Divergent and Insurgent, the first two books in the Divergent trilogy. Now a full-time writer, Ms. Roth and her husband live in Chicago. You can visit her online at Twitter, Tumblr, her blog, and her website.


THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

This must be the season when authors were pushed to complete their books for the rabid public who have been anxiously awaiting their next ones....Wally Lamb, Veronica Roth and others have disappointed their readers this time around.  At least they've disappointed me.

I happen to have loved "Divergent" and liked "Insurgent," the sequel, very much.  I'm a great fan of dystopians, as you well know.  But I found this final chapter in the series so distressing in its absence of Ms Roth's best imaginative writing.  "Did she just get tired or did she just get lazy," as the song goes...

Not only were the characters put up in a bland surrounding this time, but the plot was slow and plodding.  I found Tris and Four downright boring!  Can "Divergent" fans imagine that!?  The bouncing back and forth of their dialog set in the "outside" world was plain and uninspired.  I was  sighing and not wanting to pick the book up to find out what happened next.  Shocking for a fan of Veronica Roth's.  I couldn't wait to move on to the next book in my stacks.

While I wanted to finish this trilogy, and I did.  I was also saddened by the ending.  I won't give any spoilers here, though others may have found them elsewhere.  Just suffice it to say this was a failing final chapter in an otherwise exciting series.  I still suggest you read "Divergent."  You just may want to stop at the first two books...

3 stars                      Deborah/TheBookishDame

"Insurgent" by Veronica Roth~Divergent Series

SUMMARY :

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth's much-anticipated second book of the dystopian Divergent series is another intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about human nature.

PARTICULARS OF THIS BOOK :

Published by:  Harper Collins
Pages:  544
Genre:  Dystopian
Author:  Veronica Roth
Read more about her first book "Divergent" here:
  Veronica Roth as well as purchasing your copy


ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

Veronica Roth is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Divergent and Insurgent, the first two books in the Divergent trilogy. Now a full-time writer, Ms. Roth and her husband live in Chicago. You can visit her online at Twitter, Tumblr, her blog, and her website http://veronicarothbooks.blogspot.com/p/books.html


TRAILERS:     First "Divergent"  the book that started the series ~

"Insurgent" Trailer

 

You can hear a 45 minute audio book reading of Insurgent on Youtube!



THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

Well, I am behind the times in bringing you this review, but it's only a prelude to "Allegiant" which I'll be reviewing in the next week.  "Allegiant" is the final book in the Divergent series and has created a whirlwind of controversy online with the YA community.  I have loved the whole series so far and am just getting into the final novel, but wanted to read "Insurgent" to fill in the blanks.  It's a fast read and a show stopper in and of itself, but a book that really needs the background of "Divergent" to understand all the nuances.

"Insurgent" takes us back to the dystopian community in Chicago now splintered by the war created by the Erudite faction into different factions and antifactions who are unsettled and not sure what to do with themselves.  Leaders rise up, albeit some are weak and fall under the simulation spells of the Erudite.  Tris and Four are left to try to put down the darker forces for the good of all, but eventually fall short of this although they risk their lives for the better good and for learning the truth.  It's a fast-moving novel with lots of action and a love that's building between Tris and Four.

At the end of the novel, things change when a mystery is revealed to the whole of the Chicago factions through the work of Tris and others.  It's a mystery that is certain to change the course of their fight and their work going forward, and one which sets the stage for the book "Allegiant."

I enjoyed this second book in the series very much.  Veronica Roth doesn't let her fans down, but keeps up a steady pace of action and adventure...and a strong bond of love and friendship through her characters.  There's not a page that lacks interest.  Not a page that lacks an absorbing element to enhance her story.

This is another dystopian to sit back and enjoy.  It's a good middle book that leads into her final one wrapping up this wonderful series.  I for one will hate to see it all end!  I know those who have been following it will, too. If you haven't gotten on this bandwagon...you really have to.  It's one of the best of the dystopian series on the market.  While "Insurgent" is very good, however, it's not quite as good as "Divergent."  But, I think it's a necessary middle book to bridging the gap to the end...


4 stars                        Deborah/TheBookishDame

Audio Books~ November 2013

SUMMARY :

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.




I TOOK A NOTION to collect some audio books for listening over the next couple of weeks.  I have a love hate relationship with them.  First of all, I see them as a convenience more than a pleasure...  When I grab one, it's usually because I want desperately to read a certain book, but can't find a way to fit it into my otherwise slammed schedule. 

I tend often to find the narrator's voice grating.  Rarely do I find it fits the tone of the book.  When it does, it's really a slam dunk.  When it fails badly, it can completely ruin a book for me.  Usually, it's just a tinnitus in the background that I can learn to live with after a couple of chapters.

It's a wonder to me when I come across blogs and vlogs with those who spend a good deal of time "reading" audio books.  Where do they listen to them?  What are they doing when they listen?  I find it unbearable to just sit still and listen.  I have to be doing something.  The times I've traveled and listened to a book on CD have been the most rewarding to me.  I also knit, do needlework and quilt while I listen.  I really do wonder what others do...

Audio books are a sort of necessary evil to me.  I love the convenience of them, and their being available as a sideline when I can't get time to read the book I've had on a long list.  I applaud the good they do to a community of booklovers who may be unable to get to books or read them otherwise. 

This week, I've been tasting a couple and thoroughly enjoying myself.  I'll just share them in summary here and say that I recommend them highly.  :]

SUMMARY :

The brilliant new novel in the New York Times bestselling series by Louise Penny, one of the most acclaimed crime writers of our time

 

No outsiders are ever admitted to the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups, hidden deep in the wilderness of Quebec, where two dozen cloistered monks live in peace and prayer. They grow vegetables, they tend chickens, they make chocolate. And they sing. Ironically, for a community that has taken a vow of silence, the monks have become world-famous for their glorious voices, raised in ancient chants whose effect on both singer and listener is so profound it is known as “the beautiful mystery.”

 

But when the renowned choir director is murdered, the lock on the monastery’s massive wooden door is drawn back to admit Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Sûreté du Québec. There they discover disquiet beneath the silence, discord in the apparent harmony. One of the brothers, in this life of  prayer and contemplation, has been contemplating murder. As the peace of the monastery crumbles, Gamache is forced to confront some of his own demons, as well as those roaming the remote corridors. Before finding the killer, before restoring peace, the Chief must first consider the divine, the human, and the cracks in between.

Winner of the 2012 Agatha Award for Best Novel

OVERVIEW:

"It is 1940. France has fallen. Bombs are dropping on London. And President Roosevelt is promising he won't send our boys to fight in "foreign wars." "But American radio gal Frankie Bard, the first woman to report from the Blitz in London, wants nothing more than to bring the war home. Frankie's radio dispatches crackle across the Atlantic Ocean, imploring listeners to pay attention - as the Nazis bomb London nightly, and Jewish refugees stream across Europe. Frankie is convinced that if she can just get the right story, it will wake Americans to action and they will join the fight."

 "Meanwhile, in Franklin, Massachusetts, a small town on Cape Cod, Iris James hears Frankie's broadcasts and knows that it is only a matter of time before the war arrives on Franklin's shores. In charge of the town's mail, Iris believes that her job is to deliver and keep people's secrets, passing along the news that letters carry. And one secret she keeps are her feelings for Harry Vale, the town mechanic, who inspects the ocean daily, searching in vain for German U-boats he is certain will come. Two single people in midlife, Iris and Harry long ago gave up hope of ever being in love, yet they find themselves unexpectedly drawn toward each other."

 "Listening to Frankie as well are Will and Emma Fitch, the town's doctor and his new wife, both trying to escape fragile childhoods and forge a brighter future. When Will follows Frankie's siren call into the war, Emma's worst fears are realized. Promising to return in six months, Will goes to London to offer his help, and the lives of the three women entwine."

Alternating between an America still cocooned in its inability to grasp the danger at hand and a Europe being torn apart by war, The Postmistress gives us two women who find themselves unable to deliver the news, and a third woman desperately waiting for news yet afraid to hear it.


 

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN LISTENING TO LATELY?

WHAT DO YOU DO WHILE LISTENING?  Just curious....


Deborah/TheBookishDame

"Perfection" by J.L. Spelbring~Dystopian Thriller

SUMMARY :

The personification of Aryan purity, Ellyssa's spent her whole life under her creator's strict training and guidance; her purpose is to eradicate inferior beings. She was genetically engineered to be the perfect soldier: strong, intelligent, unemotional, and telepathic.

Only Ellyssa isn't perfect.

Ellyssa feels emotions--a fact she's spent her life concealing. Until she encounters the epitome of inferiority: a dark-haired boy raised among renegades hiding since the Nazis won the war a century ago. He speaks to her telepathically, pushing thoughts into her mind, despite the impossibility of such a substandard person having psychic abilities.

But he does.

His unspoken words and visions of a place she's never visited make Ellyssa question her creator. Confused and afraid her secret will be discovered, Ellyssa runs away, embarking on a journey where she discovers there is more to her than perfection.


PARTICULARS OF THIS BOOK :

Published by Spencer Hill Press
Pages:  317
Genre:  YA/Dystopian
Author:  J.L. Spelbring


ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

J.L. Spelbring lives in Texas, where she wanders out in the middle of the night to look at the big and bright stars. Besides knocking imaginary bad guys in the head with a keyboard, she enjoys being swept away between the pages of a book, running amuck inside in her own head, pretending she is into running, and hanging out with her kids, who are way too cool for her. 


THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

This book is a sleeper!  Imaginative and spellbinding, it's captivating from the first chapter on.  I enjoyed the story immensely.  Spelbring is an author to keep your eyes on.

J.L. Spelbring was an unknown author to me, and one I told Spencer Hill Press I was willing to take a chance on because the summary of the book was so compelling.  I found the story more than satisfying with characters that were vastly interesting and well-conceived. The plot was fast-paced.  This is a dystopian unlike any I've read in six years of reviewing.  Really a book that transcends all age groups.  Young adults and adults, both, will love this one.

I thought the concept of continuing the Nazi ideal of an Aryan race was a great one, coupled with the modern extension of having the children be psychic and more.  They were stealthy in their different roles, with different genetic/innate "gifts."  The main character, Ellyssa in her aberration was engaging and exciting.  I was drawn in to her struggle from the beginning and never faltered along the way.  Other characters are strongly developed.  Loved them and their different quirks and flaws.

The ending is perfect!  And I look forward to what appears to be a set up for a sequel.   

I highly recommend this book which may not be on the list of books touted by major publishers this season.  It's a show-stopper!  (Don't be thrown off by some editing flaws at the beginning of the book.)  It's available on Amazon.

5 stars              Deborah/TheBookishDame        

"The Uninvited" by Liz Jensen ~ Weird and Wise, Wildly Recommended!

 

THE SUMMARY :

 

A seven-year-old girl puts a nail gun to her grandmother's neck and fires. An isolated incident, say the experts. The experts are wrong. Across the world, children are killing their families. Is violence contagious? As chilling murders by children grip the country, anthropologist Hesketh Lock has his own mystery to solve: a bizarre scandal in the Taiwan timber industry.

Hesketh has never been good at relationships: Asperger's Syndrome has seen to that. But he does have a talent for spotting behavioral patterns and an outsider's fascination with group dynamics.

Nothing obvious connects Hesketh's Asian case with the atrocities back home. Or with the increasingly odd behavior of his beloved stepson, Freddy. But when Hesketh's Taiwan contact dies shockingly and more acts of sabotage and child violence sweep the globe, he is forced to acknowledge possibilities that defy the rational principles on which he has staked his life, his career, and, most devastatingly of all, his role as a father.

Part psychological thriller, part dystopian nightmare, The Uninvited is a powerful and viscerally unsettling portrait of apocalypse in embryo.

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :
Published by:  Bloomsbury USA
Pages:  320
Genre:  Fiction/Dystopian/Apocalyptic
Find your copy here:  Barnes & Noble  or  Amazon
Author's website:   Liz Jensen


FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MS JENSEN :

 

Liz Jensen was born in Oxfordshire, to an Anglo-Moroccan librarian mother and a Danish violin-maker father. She studied English at Somerville College, Oxford and worked first as a journalist in Hongkong and Taiwan, then a TV and radio producer for the BBC in the UK.

In 1987 she moved to France where she worked as a sculptor and freelance journalist, and began writing her first novel, Egg Dancing. This was published in 1995, after her return to London, where she wrote Ark Baby (1998), The Paper Eater (2000), War Crimes for the Home (2002), The Ninth Life of Louis Drax (2004), My Dirty Little Book of Stolen Time (2006) and The Rapture (2009). She is currently working on her eighth novel, a ghost story.

Liz Jensen’s work has been short-listed for the Guardian Fiction award, nominated three times for the Orange Prize, developed for film, and translated into more than 20 languages. She has two sons, and shares her life with the Danish writer Carsten Jensen, best-selling author of We, The Drowned. She divides her time between London and Copenhagen.

 

 

BOOK TRAILER:   Viewer Discretion Advised!  :P

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BOOKISH DAME'S REVIEW :

 

I received a galley of this book from Netgalley, started it a couple of months ago and didn't finish it, reported that I didn't find it at all interesting and shut the door on it.  But, the book wouldn't shut the door on me...  I kept thinking about it.  It kept creeping up on me at odd times.  When I was in book stores, the cover would glare at me.  And then I'd start wondering if I'd given Hesketh half a chance.  So, I went back and decided to reread.  This is the first time I can ever remember doing anything like this.  The book just had its claws in me and wouldn't let me go until it was done!!

I'm so glad I did read it through, but I'm not sure I can give justice to it in a review.  Please bear with me.

 

"The Uninvited" is one of the most genius and bizarre pieces of literature I've read in a very long time.  It's really something on the cusp of "out there"...  It's quantum physics meets apocalyptic. 

 Flat footed as that may sound, that's what it is. 

 It is a far-fetched and imaginative a novel.

Part of the beauty of this book is its mind stretching ability.  It makes one think outside the proverbial box.

 

As far as characters go, I will forever remember Hesketh, the anthropological would-be-father with Asperger's syndrome.  What an amazing and powerful figure he is.  So beautifully constructed in every way.  He is the symbolic epitome of the supposed unfeeling human being of our time with "stuffed feelings" that he doesn't know how to express, and/or that he doesn't have.  He's a remarkable character.  I loved his scientific mind coupled with the creative origami for all occasions.  What a masterful creature to head an investigation of seemingly warped and off-target children and adults!  Genius!

And what love and compassion he shows for his child in the face of danger. A complex and beautiful character.

 

I'm not sure I understood all that this book was meant to convey.  It felt as if I might need to read it again to get all the symbolism and details.  A reading and discussion with someone else would be preferable with this one.  At the end, I grasped the meaning, though, and it held my rapt attention.  Thinking for a while, I was reluctant to put the book aside. 

 

This is a book that will appeal to those who liked Orwell's "1984" and the best of "futuristic" novels, as we used to call them.  It's dystopian, but it's more than that.  It's a warning about the state of our world, absolutely, but it has elements of Stephen King and Stephen Hawkings.  I have to say it was unusual.  Weird and wise.

 

I highly recommend it.  I think if you don't read this one this year, you'll be left behind on what will be known as one of the hottest books of the year.  But, this one is going to take some patience up front.  It's not going to be a walk in the park from page one....take my word for it, if you don't stick with it, it will come after you!

 

5 stars       Deborah/TheBookishDame

 

 

 

 

 

 

YA Novels~Signs of the Times

Before I begin my post, let me direct your attention to this humongous giveaway going on at Beth Revis's blog!!!  See the link: http://bethrevis.blogspot.com  Talk about a Thanksgiving Special!  Please do yourself a favor and go there to sign up for a change to win this spectacular stash...

I just wanted to take this time to be thankful this year about the plethora of YA novels and writers of them.  I used to spend more time reviewing them, and  hope to continue in that vein in coming months. 

What has impressed me most with the ones I've chosen to read, and which have become the best sellers in the past years or so is their impact on how our future is interpreted for young adult readers, and not only them but adults who are cross-over reading the same books.  Books like the obvious "Hunger Games," but also "Divergent," "Pure" and many others will see our future as projected through the eyes of authors for this generation who may experience a time in the future holding destruction and survival like we've not known to this point.  Frightening...and hopeful at the same time.  I'm drawn to the dystopian novels in particular.

Personally, I've found the fantasy novels with angelics, psychics and faeries interesting, as well on most counts.  But, they fail to hold my attention and they aren't the first books I reach for on the shelves.  To me, most are less compelling than the dystopians and more infantile.  I can see they have a huge draw for the young adults, however, and I've read some very well written examples of them!

I'm a die-hard vampire fan for those who don't know me well.  So, all those having to do with vampires, were's and such are just chocolate to me!  All I can say is give me more!  Richelle Mead is one of my favorite authors in this genre...but there are so many more.  Love them all.

I've left out categories, I know, but there are so many!  If you haven't tried the YA section of your bookstore or library or online shop, you just have to.  There's more than "Harry Potter" out there today for you. 

Here are some new recommendations:

"Reached" is the third in the "Matched" trilogy which is a futuristic novel series.

"The Evolution of Mara Dyer" is the second book in a series you have to read!  "The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer" is an unforgettable novel!

"Pure" is a novel I reviewed here recently about a post-apocalyptic world...fantastic book.

and "Divergent" is a sort of "Hunger Games" book, only better in my humble opinion.  This one could be the next great movie.  It already has a cult following.

(Have I erred on the side of dystopians?  Oh, well, you can see where my heart is....  :]  )

Happy reading!

Deborah/TheBookishDame

"Matched" by Ally Condie~AudioBook by Penguin

SUMMARY:
 

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

INFORMATION ON THE AUDIO BOOK:

Published by:  Penguin/Audio
Format:  MP3
Unabridged
Number 1 of 3
Read by:  Kate Simses
Genre:  YA Fiction/Dystopian

Meet the Author:

Ally Condie is a former high school English teacher who lives with her husband and three sons outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. She loves reading, running, eating, and listening to her husband play guitar.


The Bookish Dame Reviews:

As you may have now surmised I've begun to review audio books as a new feature of A Bookish Libraria.  This is the second one in the series.

I found this YA book to be directly in keeping with a young adult audience.  It's not a book I would necessarily recommend for a crossover audience to adult listeners because the reader has a strictly child-like voice. I felt she was younger that the age of the protagonist Cassie.  I felt she was miscast as the reader in this one.  Although her reading and "acting" abilities were good, she sounded a bit too young for the part of a 16 year old and it was distracting on whole.

However, the story Ms Condie writes is engaging and smart.  I enjoyed the book itself very much.  As in most dystopian novels there's a new world order that's meant to solve the problems of society and sharply misses doing that!  This is a society that makes the audio book absorbing.

Characters are well drawn and interesting.  Cassie, herself, is memorable.  She's a girl with the ability to think on her own in a society that discourages that sort of thing.  She's a girl who also has the courage to walk out of step in a world marching strictly to one cadence, and I appreciated that role-model for young adults.   I also was won over by the problem of her two loves!

So, a mixed bag here, but well worth the listen for young adults and adults who may not mind the voice. 

Penguin has also come out with audiobooks on the two follow up books in this series:  "Crossed" and "Reached."

With a better narrator, I would be tempted to listen to them!


3.5 stars for an interesting novel...                            Deborah/TheBookishDame

"Ashen Winter" by Mike Mullin~Warning! Super Volcano Eruption Dystopian!

Where will you be when Yellowstone National Park's super volcano erupts? It will.  It's just a matter of when. Mike Mullin has written two very impressive YA fiction novels about the inevitable eruption in the United States's Mid-West that cripples and virtually destroys the country. His first book in the series, "Ashfall" and this one, "Ashen Winter" tells the story of a teenaged couple who learns to survive, along with others in a world completely rewritten by the volcano's devastation. It's a story of humanity's survival...of the end of Eden and the loss of innocence coupled with the struggle for sanity and hope, literally, amidst the ashes.  As always, it's love that's found to be the highest order of all things.

Mullin shows the evils of mankind in their most blatant...the "what ifs" at their worst. And, he shows the courage of women and men under duress, as well. Many times I found myself holding my breath, and then cheering for Darla, the stronger-than-the-men young woman, who is a genius at almost everything she puts her hand to including mechanics! Often, I clenched my teeth and shook my head in frustration at the stops and starts, the things and people that held back Alex, the teenager from whose eyes and ears we first experienced the disaster.  The characters running amok in these books are worthy of zombie-land!  The main characters, however, are salt-of-the-earth types who we can easily recognize among our friends and family.  The struggle to survive is the driving force of their lives.

This is a novel that's not easy to read in terms of it's plausibility. It's not easy to "hear." The Super Volcano eruption could happen. It might happen in our time..any day. What's for sure is that this is a set of books that would do well to be taught in public and private high schools throughout the United States! Forewarned is to be a little better prepared. Because if it ever happens...all bets are off and it's literally every single woman for herself.

5 stars blazing for this fabulous book!!


Summary :

It’s been over six months since the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. Alex and Darla have been staying with Alex’s relatives, trying to cope with the new reality of the primitive world so vividly portrayed in Ashfall, the first book in this series. It’s also been six months of waiting for Alex’s parents to return from Iowa. Alex and Darla decide they can wait no longer and must retrace their journey into Iowa to find and bring back Alex’s parents to the tenuous safety of Illinois. But the landscape they cross is even more perilous than before, with life-and-death battles for food and power between the remaining communities. When the unthinkable happens, Alex must find new reserves of strength and determination to survive.

Here's an interesting YouTube video for you, but don't watch it if you're easily frightened:

 

More About Mike Mullin:

Mike Mullin’s first job was scraping the gum off the undersides of desks at his high school. From there, things went steadily downhill. He almost got fired by the owner of a bookstore due to his poor taste in earrings. He worked at a place that showed slides of poopy diapers during lunch (it did cut down on the cafeteria budget). The hazing process at the next company included eating live termites raised by the resident entomologist, so that didn’t last long either. For a while Mike juggled bottles at a wine shop, sometimes to disastrous effect. Oh, and then there was the job where swarms of wasps occasionally tried to chase him off ladders. So he’s really hoping this writing thing works out.

Mike holds a black belt in Songahm Taekwondo. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife and her three cats. ASHFALL is his first novel.

You might want to visit Mike on his website at:  http://mikemullinauthor.com

You may wish to purchase his books on:  Amazon    or  Barnes & Noble

From his website, you can follow him on Twitter and Facebook


Here's a trailer of his first book in this series:  "Ashfall"

I  hope we never see this sort of eruption of our society in our time, but it's always great to know there are those who will survive and that they may be the ones who represent the best within us.

Read "Ashfall" and "Ashen Winter," I know you'll love these books and so will the teens in your life.

Deborah/TheBookishDame