WOW!

Because I LOVED The Selection series from Kiera Cass, I couldn't wait until The Betrothed came out!  And I have to say this was one of those times when there was NO disappointment even with such high expectations!  I can't wait until the next one!   Right now the pictures won't upload on Blogger, so I will have to do that later!  But even though this is romance and romance isn't my thing, I love these books by Cass!

Sweet Story

Siobhan Vivian is coming to my neighborhood!  And I am so glad I just finished Stay Sweet! One of the things I really loved about SS was that the teens in this book actually act and think like regular people, not poets or people who understand everything and know exactly what to say at exactly the right time.
I won't call out any specific authors, but have you ever read a book in which a character always has the most insightful thing to say in any situation?  And they are also able to quote a 14th century mystic to back it up their position?
In SS the main character experiences the death of someone.  Her best friend says things like "Don't cry!"  "It will be okay!'  "Everything happens for a reason!" and behaves like a REAL person! 
Or maybe just like I do.  Because I don't always have the right words.  And I know that I have asked people not to cry, when they had every right to do so.  So I appreciate that Vivian shows characters who make the same mistakes. 

Why?

I know there is no point in asking why we do horrible things to one another.  Human nature is prone to such horrors.  Ones that sicken us.  Horrors done to groups of people, horrors done to individuals.  The essays in Not That Bad:  Dispatches from Rape Culture show this to be true with each account.  It is edited by the incomparable Roxane Gay. 

I don't know how to comment on these stories.  Some of the writers say that they don't want to be called "brave" or a "survivor" and some don't want to hear that people are "sorry for what happened" but some do.  I want to respect that.  I want to just give to them as much respect as I can.  So all I can say is that I am very thankful for their words and willingness to share.  I simply want to offer to them all that is within me and that my heart and soul can give, as respectfully as I can.  I absolutely recommend this book.  

The F Word

I really, really resonated with Bad Feminist in a lot of ways.   The book isn't just about feminism though.  It deals with a lot of issues.  One of the things that kept running through my mind was that this was written in the Pre-Trump days.  Things were bad then, but they are even worse now for women.  No, for humans!  Dr. Gay is brilliant.  Witty, too. 

So this is...

Maresi.  The first in the Red Abbey Chronicles and it was published in Finland in 2014 but published in the US in 2017 and it's getting some Printz buzz.  It's hard for me to make a judgement call because this is SO out of my world of reading.  It has a fantastic cover.  And the description makes it sound so good.  But man...I just couldn't really get into it at all.  I started it one day and then couldn't finish it so went back and tried again.  And I have to say that by the time I finished it, I really could appreciate what the author, Maria Turtschaninoff did with the book.  Some books take work.  And I am a lazy reader sometimes.  I think this one took work for me.  But I am glad that I worked on it!  I gave it 3 stars, but it is more 3.5 and the lower rating of it is because of my personal feelings toward this kind of book, not a reflection on the quality of it.  I could recommend this book, for sure.  Printz worthy?  I honestly don't know.  

Pretty Darn Powerful

What Girls are Made Of was really good.  And it was made even better with the author's note, but it would have been really good even if she hadn't given some great testimony as to why she wrote the book and why it written in the starkly honest way that it is.  She admits that there are parts that may offend some people.  But she explains why that is totally okay.  I was not offended, but I was surprised- not shocked, but surprised by the graphic nature of parts of the book.  You can tell though that it is not done gratuitously, that the inclusion of such frank descriptions make a really good point.  Tough book, good book.  But yeah, it may offend people.  Another great book from Arnold.

Sometimes I feel like shouting, "Glory! Glory! Glory!"

that has absoultey nothing to do with Glory O'Brien's History of the Future, but her name, Glory O'Brien, of course, reminded me of the song Were You There?  And the last verse which reads, "Sometimes I feel like shouting, "Glory!  Glory!  Glory!  Were you there when He rose up from the grave?"  This version is by Marion Williams.  It doesn't end that way, but man....what a rendition.  WOW.  WOW.  WOW.
Glory O'Brien's History of the Future is a pretty "wow" kind of book.  A.S. King really has written terrific books.  I haven't read them all, but I really hope to do so next year.  I think that next year I might take an author-focused approach and also finish up my "Reading Road Trip" deal where I am trying to read a book set in each of the nifty-fifty.
Where does Glory O'Brien's History of the Future take place?  In Pennsylvania!  I think most of her books do.  Aaaannnywayyyy....I am rambling.
This book is a must for the Amelia Bloomer Project.  It is a very odd book, but odd in a good way, as in original!  It reminded me a bit of Grasshopper Jungle because that also had a main character who was writing a history, not of the future, but of the last days of Earth.  I don't know if this is sci-fi like Grasshopper Jungle and Noggin, because modern science doesn't give Glory and her friend their super powers, they come from drinking the ground-up remains of a bat.  But natural science is still science, right? So maybe? It is like GJ and Noggin though because while it definitely is paranormal, it doesn't seem way out there, it is very realistic.  Is this a new trend in YA fiction?  Paranormal fiction that is more normal?  GOHOTF also reminded me of Sure Signs of Crazy which I read just about this time last year.  Glory and Sarah both had mothers who ended their own lives and both are concerned that they will do the same.
There are just some really great characters in here.  And a very great father.  This was just such an exceptional book, even though Glory is not a very likable character and I don't think she is meant to be. Well maybe she is just like a normal person.  No one is likable all of the time.  Well, I actually do know a lot of people who are likable all the time!  Not me!  But I do know a lot of people who are!
Anyway...great, great book!  A.S. King, great, great writer.