60-Page Reviews: Ditched: A Love Story by Robin Mellom

What can I say? I think the title says loud and clear that this book sucks. I actually read significantly more than sixty pages, but I was just trying to read the whole thing so that I might make fun of it more easily. But alas, my life is time-crunched, both in and out of book club. Thus I found it prudent to stop this bloody awful novel and promptly did so.

While I may not be an expert on determining prose quality (I know, I know), the writing here felt very loose and awkward. Certainly not eloquent like Mary Shelley or, say, Jenny Hubbard. The story was dull enough (just an air-headed girl fussing about boys and kisses), but what drove me bleedin' bonky was the narrator, Justina Griffith. She just struck me as a tease, kissing boys and then running off to kiss other boys. At one point someone says Justina seems to consider kissing some kind of chore and she replies (paraphrased), "No, more of a sport." Plus the humor relied heavily on randomness - not the good kind one finds in the works of Lewis Carroll or Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett - just oddness. Random humor, in my opinion, has to be carefully executed or else we have an effect akin to that of a slasher movie claiming to be horror.

I tried not to judge this book by its cover and subject, but garsh, does it suck! Neeext!

Final grade: F

60 Page Review: What Boys Really Want by Pete Hautman

At the end of the 2012 Melinda Awards, there was a "galley grab," in which we teens all fell upon the past year's unpublished proofs like piranhas on a bleeding cow. The cow somehow fell into the river. Anyway, after the aforementioned grab, the cart of books for 2012 was opened to us and this was the one thing I took at the time. To quote myself, "It [looked] like a great book...to throw off the list [of potential winners]." We tend to weed things out rather quickly; only the best of books (in a majority's opinion) make it through to the very end. And this had a ridiculous title, so I grabbed it with the intention of landing it in the Chair of Shame.

The writing was below average but not awful. It's mostly the sexism, for which the term "blatant" would be an understatement. I mean, just look at the title! Not all boys want the same thing, nor do all girls, nor does any other gender. It was chock-full of "That's a girl thing" and "Only a guy would do that" and such. Mind you, this isn't a super-bomb like Vampire Crush, but Hautman certainly isn't quite a Jo Rowling, a Suzanne Collins, or a Holly Black. He's no John Green, no David Levithan, no Jenny Hubbard. What I'm saying is that there are so many superb writers out there, and so many more mediocre ones, that I generally read only the best of things. I also do 60 Page Reviews, but - at least for the moment - I read precisely sixty of the pages before putting things down.

And trust me, I'm pretty damn good at judging books by their covers. Of course, there's a process of getting into a non-60-Page-Review book:

• Look at the cover and title, or spine if shelved
• Look at the summary
• Read the first page or flip to a random page and determine the writing quality
• Make a judgment: to read or not to read?

This book struck me as slightly below average and not worth a good deal of my time. I recently secured its return to the Printz cart and signed it back in for some other poor, brave soul to read.

Final grade: D

Coming Soon: 60 Page Reviews

"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." - Benjamin Franklin

My book club has a policy which states that in order to disqualify a book from the very fierce competition toward the Melinda Awards, two or three (not sure exactly how many at the moment) persons must read at least sixty pages in order to give it a "No." I've done that at least once (Vampire Crush - even the title is terrible!), and I'm currently struggling to reach the sixtieth page of What Boys Really Want by Pete Hautman. So this is basically a preview of something to come. First I shall probably review the aforementioned "vampire" novel. Also, I may be amending my New Year's resolution to 100 or maybe even 150 books. At least. I really need to get up to speed on my reading. In addition to these, I'm trying to read more good books and sixty pages each of more gods-awful books, which means my ascending standards won't tolerate any "decent" or "OK" books - it must be on either side of the fence for me and not on its tip. This is in order to improve my own writing and throw off more books for Printz. Another reason for which I do this is efficiency: I must read more. I already read far more than most people, but I was surprised at the reading abilities of many of my fellow members, particularly Ara. Much power to that one! I must, of course, make room for non-Printz books, but that should't be an issue. Anyhow, time to go!

Peace!

- Lewis

Printz: Finale One

"Always look on the bright side of life!" - Eric Idle

"It is better to fail at originality than to succeed in imitation." - Herman Melville

"Read to your heart's content. Though if you are a reader, the heart is never content." - Jenny Hubbard, Paper Covers Rock

The year of 2011 was my first in a local library's Mock Printz book club. We had lots of fun over the course of the year (and a little into this one) and read some truly great books - and some bloody awful ones as well. We had to narrow down our choices to a "top three" list. Mine were as follows:

1. Paper Covers Rock by Jenny Hubbard
2. Every You, Every Me by David Levithan
3. The Floating Islands by Rachel Neumeier

My first choice (which ended up winning) was one of the best books I've ever read. It details the guilt-burdened life of Alexander Stromm, written in the form of a journal - which works out tremendously, as it seems so real. As one member of the club pointed out, "Alex is not a character, he is a person." And I fully agree to that statement: he just felt so real. The story is very realistic and well-crafted; the writing was simply beautiful. I'm not surprised to learn that the author is a poet and playwright.

The second is the first, and so far only, piece of work I have read by David Levithan. The prose is also very good here (not Paper Covers Rock, but still great) and the characters feel a similar guilt for a friend (I'd hate to spoil it, so I'll keep it vague). The cool thing is that Mr. Levithan asked a photographer, Jonathan Farmer, to send him random pictures, which he based the story around - and nailed it. This is a wonderful novel.

And I've reviewed The Floating Islands in the past, but I still agree that the descriptions are breathtaking, similar to Redwall in their majesty. This is more my preferred style of book, although I can easily accommodate other genres. But I think this is good to show I am not biased.

The competition was keen; Paper Covers Rock was closely tied with a novel I have yet to read, titled A Monster Calls - so closely, in fact, that our lead librarian had to step in and give her vote, which was for Jenny Hubbard's piece of art. I honestly think it will become a classic.

Overall it was a great meeting and I cannot wait for the new season.

Wishing the best,

Lewis

New Project

Once again (and directly after the designated month) I am attempting a novel. I'm not sure if it will reach 50,000 words, but I consider it worth a try. It's sort of a dark fantasy story; I'm rather fond of those. It's also a combination of a short story I came up with in Creative Writing this past spring, one which was much improved but never quite mastered. The characters are from the past novel attempt; the concept is from both, more on the story's side.

I've written several novel attempts in the past - finished first drafts, that is - but they always come up quite literally short. The longest one was written within a matter of days in summer 2009, but it was basically a ripoff of a ripoff (and, according to Ezra, there would be another "of a ripoff" there). Still, we must all learn the hard way in writing, eh? There's no sense in shaming amateurs, unless they're published somehow. Like Stephenie Meyer.

I think I might be able to do novels at some point, but for me it might be a matter of practice. I don't think I'll give up.

School tomorrow, and after that I'll be meeting with Printz members at Quail Ridge Books & Music, where just last night I attended the teen writers' workshop there, and have been for over two years (crazy, what?). I'm most likely going to meet an author I've not read yet: Cassandra Clare. In the past here I've met Mary Pope Osborne and seen Orson Scott Card and Lois Lowry. Wish me luck!

May the stars watch over you.

Lewis

Book Review: Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Several persons at Printz love this book. I myself quite liked it.

It tells the story of Lina Vilkas, a Lithuanian teenager captured by the NKVD (Soviet secret police) during World War II. She and her mother and younger brother are treated as below scum, forced into swine boxcars and shipped across Europe and Asia into the Arctic Circle for unknown "crimes."

While this book was wonderfully written and had an interesting - if not altogether likable - protagonist, it was oddly similar to Elie Wiesel's memoir Night. Night dealt with Nazis, while Between Shades of Gray pertained to communism, but it was very similar in build. Then again, I'm sure much of the same thing actually happened...but this is historical fiction, whilst Wiesel's book is an autobiography. Both were disturbingly realistic, but this one, while a grand book in its own right, did not bring much to the table that was entirely new. I still really liked it, however - do not get me wrong there.

Final grade: B

Book Review: The Phantom Limb by William Sleator and Ann Monticone

"Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia."  - E.L. Doctorow

"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you." - Ray Bradbury

"I try to leave out the parts that people skip." - Elmore Leonard

I selected this book from a cart at Printz in order to eliminate unwanted books; we have too many.

PLOT. Isaac discovers a mirror box (a sort of optical-illusion device) with an amputated limb on the inside. The limb tells him via signing that its owner was murdered and that soon Isaac's mother will be too (Joey, the dead one, shared a passion for the piano with Isaac's mother Vera, and the murderer hates piano players for some reason). Isaac must stop the murderer with the help of Joey's arm.

The main problem was that the writing in the beginning annoyed me. Not only was the actual prose choppy, but the writers ignored the Show-Don't-Tell rule and laid out everything on the table, and the optical illusions, while interesting, were poorly explained. The plot was engaging but the conclusion seemed hasty. Then again, it might be better in the published version - I read an uncorrected proof.

I was not terribly impressed, but not the worst thing I've ever read either.

Final grade: D

Book Review: The Summer of May by Cecelia Galante

At my Mock Printz book club a few sessions back, we were each assigned a Book of Fate in order to clear those which needed to be read and reviewed. Some sounded absolutely atrocious; I was spared that...to a degree.

PLOT. May's mother left years ago, and now her family and life seem to be falling apart. She gets into trouble 24/7 at school, and her father is verbally (and physically, as it later turns out) abusive. After she sprays graffiti on her English teacher's board (and somehow thinks not to be caught), she is faced with either expulsion or one-on-one summer school with the same teacher. She chooses the latter and finds that the teacher has an interesting past.

The writing, while not beautiful, was good, and I liked the teacher (Miss Movado). I did not care for May's character at all; she whined a lot (not quite Bella Swan, but still annoying) and seemed malcontent. She continued to refer to her teacher as Movado the Avocado, due to Movado's squat form and green attire, despite the many kind things which the lady did for her. She was basically impossible to please: for example, Miss Movado took her to a restaurant - which she really didn't have to do, especially after what May did during the school year - and May complained about the food, the seat, you get the idea. Show some gratitude, you little brat! In the end you're supposed to end up liking the father (or at least, that was my impression), but I see no excuse for the way he treated his daughter - even though I understand his being unhappy with her. What I liked was Miss Movado's back-story, which ties in with the mother thing. Bit of a spoiler, but it says that in the front cover anyway.

I somewhat enjoyed The Summer of May, but I would not nominate it for an award (and I didn't), and I wouldn't read it time and time again.

Final grade: C

Book Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

This book came out before I started it, but I took the galley (uncorrected proof) from Printz and read it. I loved it.

The plot revolves around sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery, who lives in a not-too distant future in which a medical accident causes males to die at age twenty-five and females at twenty. And young women and girls are being snatched off the streets and sold as wives to polygamous mansions. Rhine is kidnapped and ends up with three other brides at the estate of Vaughn Ashby and his son Linden. And she plans to escape.

The prose was quite clear in this, and reminded me of that of The Hunger Games - not in a copious way, but in the sense that they are both well-written and both first-person present-tense. The story was clever, I thought, and I felt for Rhine throughout. I liked how she kept trying to escape and failing, or rather, how convinced I was she'd make it each time. Some really good methods, but you'll have to read the book to see that...and whether she escapes at all by the end. But this is the first of a series (the Chemical Garden trilogy), and I'll definitely want to see what happens next.

Final grade: A

Terrible Books

"Novels so often provide an anodyne and not an antidote, glide one into torpid slumbers instead of rousing one with a burning brand." - Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

My friend Ara intentionally reads books that are awful and blogs about them. For the longest time I would read only books I thought I would like, and generally my predictions were accurate, with a few exceptions such as Twilight, Requiem: Poems from the Terezin Ghetto, and The Lightning Thief. But now, in order to season myself as the amateur critic that I am, I chose a poorly-reviewed book from Printz (Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma). It's about a brother and sister who fall in love, which in itself is odd. Could be a good book (not too far yet), but I only hope to whatever gods may or may not exist that it doesn't encourage incest. I still hope to read some other of the well-liked ones before this fall when endings are spoiled, but if I love everything I read, then what kind of critic am I? A person once told me I couldn't critique stuff properly. Of course the bloke was wrong, because he hardly enjoys any books and anyone who's a bit less cynical is apparently a softy.

If I've made any typos and left them, you must excuse me: I cut open my left thumb and index finger and am wearing plasters at the moment, which makes it hard to type.

Love,

Lewis

Books, Books, Books!

"I hate quotations. Tell me what you know." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I recently discovered the website Goodreads via my former Creative Writing teacher's blog. I already have a Shelfari, but I went ahead and created an account anyway. I like this site because I can sort things onto multiple "shelves". I don't prefer it to Shelfari, nor vice versa, but it's a good site. I found someone from my book club there and discovered we are both huge Neil Gaiman fans. One of the many things I'm currently reading (semi-reading in this case) is the second Sandman graphic novel by Gaiman, titled The Doll's House. I loved the first one because it was of the mind-bending variety and featured the Lord of Dreams. Very interesting.

I am currently nearing the end of Dracula and really liking it. Vampires - when they don't sparkle - are something I love reading about. Until recently my favorite book was Stephen King's second novel, 'Salem's Lot (it is now The Two Princesses of Bamarre, by Gail Carson Levine). If anyone shares this affinity, he or she ought to check out The Vampire Archives, edited by Otto Penzler. It contains over a thousand pages of centuries of vampire fiction, including M.E. Braddon, Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Ray Bradbury, Anne Rice, Bram Stoker, and countless others.

I must read Wither by Lauren DeStefano soon for Printz, so that I know what everyone is talking about. I just wanted to have a post about books, and I can guarantee more of these. But for now I must leave.

Au revoir,

Lewis

Lemon Curry?

The title is almost completely random (Monty Python reference). But today was quite busy: I went to the Eva Perry Library, where I have Printz meetings, and worked on ideas for a Rot & Ruin book trailer before doing a sort of written game of Chinese whispering (I put down "Lemon curry?" to begin - hence the "almost"). After, we traveled to Quail Ridge for writer's group. Everyone read really good stuff and so I am proud.

I might attempt to write a play soon.... Wish me luck. I have not much else to say, for I am tired.  I apologize.

Goodnight. Love,

Lewis

Book Review: Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

My second book read for Printz (though I am told it already won our award - oh well) is Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry. I thought it was really good, and definitely agree with the award. However, it was unclear how zombies first came to be. That was about the only flaw.

Years after First Night, the start of the zombie apocalypse, Benny Imura purchases a zombie card set with a rare non-zombie piece in it: the Lost Girl. He begins to wonder who she is, and finds his own hero, Charlie Matthias, after it. His half-brother Tom convinces him that Charlie is not a good person, and that sometimes humans are worse monsters than zoms. The half-brothers flee into the great Rot and Ruin, outside their fenced-in town, to pursue Charlie and his cronies as they hunt the Lost Girl to bring her to Gameland - a zom-human arena.

Very good book, which I'd give a B for that one imperfection. Otherwise it's great. I think this was my first zombie novel; not sure as to whether Pet Sematary counts.

Adios,

Lewis

Book Review: The Floating Islands by Rachel Neumeier

This is a book I read for Printz (my library's YA book club), and I must say, I loved it. The world it is set in is amazing, and some of the concepts are fascinating. It alternates chapters between two characters: Trei and his female cousin Araenѐ.

PLOT: After Trei loses his parents and sister in a disaster, he moves to the Floating Islands with Araenѐ and her parents, his aunt and uncle. Trei becomes a kajurai (a winged person), and Araenѐ, dressed as a boy due to sexism, attends the hidden school, where she learns magic. They both find themselves caught in a war between the Islands and the imperial nation of Tolounn, whence Trei came from. Trei finds himself divided between two homes, and Araenѐ is held back for being a girl. To find the outcome, read it.

I know I also gave Redwall an "A", but this book just seemed practically flawless to me. It had every element of awesome, and contained a beautiful story. If any of you like YA and/or high fantasy (meaning set in another world), I would check this book out of a library, or buy it. Excellent.

Summer at Last

So this is it: I am free. I plan to read more than ever now, and I am already making my way through The Best of Cemetery Dance. Tonight my mother, sisters, and I watched a quarter of Stephen King's The Stand - very good teleplay with a rather scary villain. I walked most of the way to my mother's house today, which is saying something; it's a good way from my school and I would have probably gone all the way if not for my book-bag weighing down on my back and threatening to break it. Ah, I won't have to worry about that for a while.

I counted the library books I have out, and I believe I have exactly twenty-five. I hope to read at least most of them this summer. One was a quick read, a galley from Printz called Requiem: Poems from the Terezin Ghetto. It was quite sad and disturbing, but I appreciated the poetry.

Speaking of books, I might move my reviews to this blog and keep one after all. Also, "The Worlds of Winter" is old - how about "The Winter Journal"? (With the former I needed a title and didn't know what to call it).

I might be volunteering at a local library this summer. We'll see how that turns out.

I must close the journal now, but I shall post again soon!

Au revoir,

Lewis

And I'm Nearing the End

"Even if I knew for certain that the world would end tomorrow, I'd plant an apple tree today." - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (approximate quotation)

I heard something interesting this morning: that the world will end tomorrow. Will it? I have my doubts, but if it did, would it be worth panicking? I should think not. If it did, I'd like to spend my last day in this world with friends. I'm not the type to freak out about death; I either laugh at it or calmly accept it.

That's not the original purpose for this post's title (which is an ALL CAPS lyric, by the way). The original point was about yet another school year ending. It's not quite over yet, but it will be soon, and then there are only two more before I get shipped off to college somewhere. I feel like this has more or less been the best year yet, largely thanks to Creative Writing, but also due to other things. Even though I've much to work at, I am happy. I am still trying to break into acting, but I have some time. Book club goes well. I had my third meeting today, and it was the first one at which I reviewed a book (The Floating Islands - the review is on my other blog, Winter Reviews).

I saw a play last night, titled The Somewhat True Tale of Robin Hood. It was funny, and I recognized one actor from my school. I think I could write plays as well as act in them. Why not? I'm still young.

I might have my first guitar lesson this weekend from Hannah, but nothing is certain. That being said, I might go to this Autism Society campground tomorrow to look around. That might be interesting.

I watched Thor last Sunday, and it was excellent. I really loved Loki. I might see Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides this weekend, if lucky.

Summer will hopefully be spent reading, watching movies and Doctor Who, and writing and blogging. I might do something I have not done in many a year: attend a camp. I'm thinking writing and/or acting camp.

Three Library-Related Things

Ah, I keep meaning to post this, along with my review for The Poison Eaters and Other Stories, but stuff keeps happening. Sorry!

I.
Anyhow, I've been checking out a lot of library audio books as of late. I realized it is more convenient at times to check one out (for free, as opposed to bookstores) and put it on iTunes for later listening. I might have mentioned that I am still listening to Redwall, and it remains so, but I am a good way in - six or seven discs out of nine, I think. I'm liking it so far. I have the prequel, Mossflower, on here too. The only two problems I have had with the audio books have been 1) The Lovely Bones, which was missing a CD, and 2) The World According to Garp, for which Disc 2 was identified as Disc 1 on two separate copies. I guess I'll just read the bound book.

II.
You know what? I'm going to put my Poison Eaters review here after all. I'd give the book four stars out of five, and I really enjoyed all of the stories, particularly "A Reversal of Fortune," "The Coldest Girl in Coldtown," and one I'm forgetting the name of, about a wolf eating people in a castle (sorry Holly!). And of course "The Poison Eaters" was rather interesting. I try to be pickyish about what I give five stars, but this book was really good in every way. Recommend? Certainly.

III.
I went to my first Printz club yesterday, and I enjoyed it. I only wish I'd known about it years ago. I got some good recommendations, and I checked out a book called The Floating Islands, which looked good. I'll see these people in maybe four weeks (some sooner), and I look forward to it. I also met some awesome people there, such as (Nikki? Was that it? She was really cool). Hannah of course is amazing, and Olivia too, and that Rachel seems pretty cool...and lucky her mother lets her have a sword (mine is quite paranoid). And this guy named Alex seemed very friendly. Overall, aside from the not knowing why people start clapping at times, I think it will work out well.

An Awful Lot of Walking

Lately I've been doing a lot of walking (I also considered calling this post "You Can Walk On for a Long Time," after a Johnny Cash song - one of the few I've actually heard). I usually carry a few [dozen] books in a cloth bag, as I did this time, seeing as my trips are generally book-related. Today it was slightly wet out, but not unpleasantly so. I like the way yellow-green leaves on trees look in the rain, if you know what I mean. Nature is fun to look at during or shortly after showers. Anyhow, I went to the Cary Library and hung out for a while. I stayed for a bit in the "silent" room, where a lady in the back had her computer sound on for over five minutes with no attempts whatsoever to turn it off. I've been reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is brilliantly, randomly hilarious. In the end I checked out two audiobooks: Rowan Hood and The Amber Spyglass, along with Holly Black's story collection The Poison Eaters. I talked to Holly on Facebook once, but now I want (NEED) to meet her in person, after I heard that Hannah and Printz did. They're starting up pretty soon, Printz (a book club). I just hope they do that again. They better.

I have a story that needs heavy editing, and I need to watch more Doctor Who. Still on Episode 3.... Also, my father is telling me to take a shower. So, I'll post later. Maybe.

Happy reading,
Lewis