Pretty Awesome!

In the Role of Brie Hutchens was not only great because our hero Brie watches All My Children (reruns, the book the set in current times, I am pretty sure) and she uses Bianca's coming out to Erica as an audition monologue, it is SO real and so faith-based and just lovely.  And real and fresh.

Sometimes

I think that I am far too old to connect with someone far younger than I.  The main character of Red Polka Dot in a World Full of Plaid just seems SO young to me that I didn't enjoy this book as much as I might have.  I can't say if this is a fair reading of the book, though.  I expected Maxine to have more understanding, a greater sense of the people around her and herself, but then I think, what do I know about being 18 anymore?  And could it be that other, more mature 18 year old book characters are simply TOO old.  I have criticized books before for having teen characters who have all of the right answers and can spout poetry, so why did Maxine's innocence bother me so much?
I like RPDIAWFOP's look at faith, though.  That was well done.  So I could recommend this, but I would like to see what real 18 year olds think about it.
I loved Varian Johnson's The Parker Inheritance, it was one of the best books I read last year and and will keep reading him.  I am just curios as to what others thought about the thoughts and feelings and actions of Maxine and how "real" they were.

This is My Story, This is My Song

This is Our Story has more to do with this than this.  Although it is MUCH more macabre.  Again, I put 4 stars instead of 5 on a book by Ashley Elston and I just can't put my finger on why.  Probably just the length.  Because the book is written so well.  And I did buy this on audible and I will buy another!  Maybe I think that Elston is such a great writer, I just wish her editor were better.  Or she just wrote short books for losers like me!  Really good book though.  Really good.

Really Something

I didn't have SUPER GREAT expectations for Nate Expectations. I had decent expectations.  I did enjoy the first two.  Especially the first one, but the second one not as much.  So I figured the third would be as good or maybe even a little less good than the second one, but I was so wrong.  I really, really loved NE.  Very much!  Start with the first one, but the whole series is a keeper! 

I Think

that in the future, and perhaps not in the too-far future, books will be more like What If It's Us? in that relationships between people who happen to have the same body parts will have romantic relationships and it will be no big deal that they have the same body parts.  It will simply be a love story, as if they had different body parts.  And love will just be love.  It all of it's imperfections and perfections! That's what this is.  And I love it.

Prejudice

I had to acknowledge my bias before I read The Diary of a Hounslow Girl.  As I have stated many times, I am NOT a fan of off-putting Briticisms or what I perceive to be arrogance on the part of the British in general.  But this was worth reading despite of all of that, so I am glad that I gave it a chance.  I am so glad that I did.  Ambreen Razia has written a one-woman drama and wow, this is really, really good.  Very insightful and eye-opening and compelling.  No matter where it is set!  Haha!  I mean, I know it's setting is important, it's just that I was able to learn from it and enjoy it even though I am NOT a fan of the UK!  But I am working on it.

No Fault

There seems to be a new trend in book descriptions as provided by the publisher.  Have you seen this:  "for fans of Gone Girl" or "in the tradition of The Fault in Our Stars" or for those who loved "The Color Purple"  that kind of thing?  And I get why.  I mean, when I am helping someone find a book I start with, "What was the last book you loved?" and try to figure out their tastes from that.  But that's just a starting point because sometimes people want to branch out.  And either way is fine!  But when I personally read a blurb that says right away, "in the tradition of" or "for fans of" I worry that it means the book is just a cheap knock off of another book.  Which is bad for a bunch of reasons.  It doesn't give full credit to the author of the new book.  I don't know...I see both sides. I have to say I figured that Five Feet Apart was going to be a TFIOS knock off, albeit a bit late.  And it was actually the lateness of it that made me read it because I figured well, maybe not because this whole trend is kinda over.
Well, that was a tangent.  And Five Feet Apart was very good and not a knock off of TFIOS and I would recommend it!  So sorry for the tangent!  But if you were thinking about not reading FFA because you thought it was, don't be afraid!  Read it, it's good! 

Countdown

Four Three Two One really grabbed me right away and it kept me most of the way, but I feel like the editor just really didn't do this book justice.  I really would and will recommend this book but will be honest that I did think it was a little too long in some places.  But I will do so by way of encouraging them to stick with it.  Because I do think this is a really good book.  With a good message, too about different POVs and about forgiveness and healing. 

Never Would Have Thought

that I would enjoy a book like Slam.  First of all, I seriously don't often enjoy books set in England.  Not a fan.  Second, I have heard of Tony Hawk, but really don't about him at all and he doesn't have a big role in the book, but if one knows Tony Hawk, it would make this book more of a no-brainer to read.  But I really, really liked Slam! A lot!  And I would recommend it for sure!  Nick Hornby is a popular writer for adults.  This was his first YA book.  He has written books that have been made into really popular movies like About a Boy and High Fidelity.  There aren't too many books written from the POV of  a teen father and this one is so good.  It's not the amazing First Part Last, but really, what is?  But it is really, really, really good!
Here is something else I need to add!  This book is set in Islington, which is in London, and Islington was also mentioned in Becoming (Mrs. Obama visited there!)!

I Never Liked Math

Until I attempted Math for Toddlers and Preschoolers at work.  Then everything changed.  I started reading about early math and the ways in which our first math experiences color the attitudes we have about math as we grow, and the success we have with it.  Good early math experiences mean good math experiences later.  I wonder if that is true for science.  Because I DO  NOT like science, but I wonder...if I had had good early science experiences would that be different.  Would I have like The Third Mushroom more?  Probably.  As Jennifer L. Holm is an author I very, very much enjoy.  This is the sequel to The Fourteenth Goldfish.  Which I really enjoyed. I just couldn't get into this one as much as the first but I still recommend it, because I know it was just me and science!

Mr. Alexander

has done it again with Swing.  And I think that this one deserves a Newbery or a Printz.  As always, incredible story full of heart and truth and one that needs to be read, by everyone.  Are there "adult" books that are written so well?  This is also co-written with the poet Mary Rand Hess, like Solo.  Very funny and touching and heart-breaking.  It will appeal to well, everyone.  Baseball fans, poetry fans, people who grieve, people who fall in love.  People of every age. 

The G Word

Pride deals with the G Word.  And you know I HATE the G Word (check out an alternative!)so I was very interested in the book right way.  This was written by Zoboi, who also wrote American Street which I LOVED and so that made me interested in the book, too.  What didn't interest me, but didn't impact my love for the book was that this is a take on Pride and Prejudice, which I still haven't read and won't ever read.  Great book though! 

Really, Really Good

When Elephants Fly is not an easy book.  It doesn't have a fairy tale ending either.  It is so well done.  There is a LOT going on here, but it is all so well, well done.  I know I read another book in which a mom who is mentally ill tries to kill her child...but I can't remember what it is.  And I need to find out!  Anyway, this was a very, very, very good read. 

Life in the Grey

Aftercare Instructions was another book that is so much like real life.  Realistic Fiction for sure. One of the most realistic aspects of it is the fact that again we see how no one is all good or all bad.  How we do have to live in the grey.  This book was really something.

Beautiful

When My Heart Joins the Thousand was an exceptional book.  This quote:  “I wouldn’t give up a single minute of the time I’ve spent with you. Not even the difficult parts.,”   just said so much to me.  I feel this way.  And I hope someday someone (you know who you are) might feel the same way about me me, but I am VERY difficult so I don't know if that is realistic!  This book is about love.  And this book is about people who think differently than "the norm."  And this book is also about cowardly parents.  And this book is about winning.  In end, love wins, right? 

Just so well done

Rain is Not My Indian Name is a book I can highly, highly recommend for so many reasons.  It made me wonder why I have not read more from Cynthia Leitich Smith. One of places I always check when I read about with Native American characters is this site.  I was so pleased to see that this book is

Another Sign of the Times

P.S. I Miss You is another example of the ways in which people of faith are shown as following Jesus and loving those who love differently.  It is really, really good and really makes one think about the dangers that come when we don't live as Christ calls us to live.
Incredible book.  Very surprising resolution.

Was the Ghost Real?

First of all, let me say that I loved Invisible Ghosts.  I thought it was beautiful and tragic and hopeful.  And the characters were so well developed.  I just saw a patron checking out this book tonight at work and I went on and on and on and on....I know she will love it, too.  I also encouraged her to read others by Robyn Schneider as I think she just gets better and better. 
The one thing I am wondering is, was the ghost of Logan real?  I don't know!  But it doesn't matter.  I think that since Jamie could see him, too, he probably was real, but then I don't know.  I just loved this book!  And I will be thinking about it and recommending it for a long time to come. 

Yeah....

Zen and Gone really didn't do it for me.
At all.
I know it has gotten rave reviews but wow, there was really nothing that drew me into this book.  I had to struggle to finish.  Ugh.   I am so sorry!  I hate writing that!  I know that Ms. France has to be talented and I don't fault her writing at all, but the story was just so not me.
I do want to read Signs of You though because her writing was really good.  I do hope that a different person narrates it though.  To me the narrator's voice sounded SO much younger than Essa was supposed to be. 
Also I think I hated this book so much because of the mother.  The mother was just awful, awful, awful.  And I just don't think I could get past that.  So the one star isn't a reflection upon the quality of the book, just my feeling on how it made me feel. 

How Appropriate

to be reading Give Me Some Truth on the Fourth of July.   As you know, I do spend most of my life under a rock and so Eric Gansworth is a new author for me.  After having read this, I immediately purchased If I Ever Get Out of Here and that will be my next book after the one I am listening to currently.  GMST was excellent.   Ganswoth is a man of many talents and he has written a must-read.  He is a citizen of the Onondaga Nation and grew up in the Turscarora Nation, as he is the descendant of two Onondaga woman who were there when the Onondaga Nation was founded. 
This book is an eye-opener for people who don't understand what the colonists did to the Native Peoples.  And what they continue to do.  For me, it wasn't as powerful as The Absolutely True Diary, because that was the first book to really open my eyes.  I suggest reading them both.  For sure.  Required reading for everyone.