I Do Love

these audible originals.  Second Skin was QUITE good!  It was sad and surprising and smart and keep me wanting to keep on listening.  It most certainly was an original as far as a story goes, too.  And I was surprised by the ending! 

3 and 1/2

All Your Twisted Secrets was a full four before the end for me...it just seemed to get a little text book with the Amber's thoughts at the end...but again, just me.  Kept my attention throughout though!  A good one for keeping ones mind off of the current state of the world and a really important message about bullying and social media...just a little too preachy I thought...at the end. 

Pornography

I guess that I just don't understand pornography's appeal to adults.  Teenagers, okay.  I mean, I can see why the curious minds and bodies would have an interest in finding out what intimacy is (NOT) like, but to me, porn and books like 50 Shades of Grey have absolutely zero appeal.  After listening to The Last Days of August I am even more anti-porn. The reason I am is because it dehumanizes people.  I know that some may argue to each their own, but personally and as a Christian, I can't support it because it seems to me that the industry and the product both deny (and certainly do NOT affirm) the beauty and the beloved nature of each Child of God.  Even the people in the industry who were interviewed for this book admit how terrible the life is and industry is.
That said, Jon Ronson does an excellent job investigating the suicide of August Ames, her real name Mercedes Grabowski.  The way in which he handled the whole thing just really, I don't know how to put it-- showed something about his character?  His heart?  Very well done.  Very sad. 

Personally...

I found The Last Time We Say Goodbye to be really well done.  There were some (just a few, reviews for this book from users have been really positive overall) that felt it was predictable and that the main character, Lex, was very unlikable.  I didn't feel this way at all.  I didn't think it was predictable and I liked the element of faith in there, albeit very small, but it was very realistic.  It seems like sometimes authors have an ax to grind when it comes to faith, either way, positive or negative, but the approach to faith and love and science in this was, I thought, very realistic and appropriate to Lex's experiences and age.  I really liked this. 

My Heart and Other Black Holes was good book.  And the only thing I didn't care for was that the ending seemed really rushed.  I totally get what happened and why it happened and how Aysel came to feel as she did, but I just wish Warga would have taken a little more time getting there.  I know that is not very like me!  I prefer a short book.  I think it really says a lot about how much I liked this book, given that I would want it to be even longer! 

To Pass the Time

Everything I Never Told you seemed like a lot of books I have read before, some of them even this year.  I didn't have anything to listen to and this was available and I didn't hate it.  I didn't even dislike it.  It was just there.  A solid 3 stars if you haven't read anything like it before, but a 2.5 if you have.  It was just a little too laid out for the reader.  Kinda like Mr. Obvious as to why the husband and wife acted as they did.  I mean, if I could get it, I bet everyone else did, but the author spelled it all out too much, the connections.  I don't think I am saying this right! 
It was kind of like this:
Husband wants daughter to be popular.  Says or does something to her to convey that.
Next scene in book is a flashback to when he was her age and was not popular.
Wife wants daughter to be a doctor.  Says or does something to her to convey that.
Next scene in book is a flashback to when her dreams of being a doctor were alive and then crushed.
It was just a little too...yeah, I guess spelled out?

Being from Pittsburgh

Saving Marty just didn't do it for me.  Now keep in mind that I listened to the book and it was read with a southern accent and it wasn't set IN Pittsburgh, but in Southwestern PA and I do know that some people see this region as being part of Appalachia.  Indeed, it is in the Appalachian Mountain region and all.  But I think it was a stretch to say that there was a Pittsburgh Jamboree.  Not that there is anything wrong with that.  It just didn't feel "real" to me.  If you live in Southwestern PA and found this to be a correct portrayal, please correct me though! 

Ripped from the Headlines

Sadly Tease, though fiction, is very real.  It's one of those ripped from the headlines kind of deals. And while some people seem to have said that they didn't like it because there was slut-shaming and the main character didn't take responsibility...well, I think that was the point!  I mean, I don't think Amanda Maciel was writing this to show that the main character and real-life people who do what the main character did SHOULDN'T have responsibility-- I think she is point out that sometimes they don't and what their thought process is.  I mean...it just seemed really weird to me that people would criticize the book for this reason.  So weird.  In any case, I really liked this book a great deal.  It mean, it was painful and sad.  But it was honest and real.  And yeah, it was really good.

No WAY!

Did you know that Judy Collins was named after Judy?  I had no idea!  But it is true!  Cravings:  How I Conquered Food was a book I saw in a library during my recent trip out west.  We were in the library in St. George, Utah and I saw it and immediately downloaded it from audible.  Listening to this book, I completely resonated with everything Ms. Collins said about her problems with food.
I found this book to be really, really good in that I think that Ms. Collins was very humble and informative.  I really disagree with the negative comments I read about this book on goodreads and can only think that those who wrote them have not shared the same battle that Ms. Collins has, but for me, almost every sentence regarding food was met with "Yes!  Yes!  I understand!" from me.
I don't know a lot of Ms. Collin's music.  I do love the songs I do know, just two of them Send in the Clowns and Both Sides Now.   I know that Frank's versions have been panned greatly, but I love them, too.  Ms. Collins's versions are much better, of course, and only they can bring me to tears, literally.  Especially SITC.
I also loved that Collins received a call from Joan Rivers after Collins's son committed suicide.  Joan told her that she had to keep working, like Rivers did when her husband killed himself.  That was our Joan.  Reaching out to people.  Loving them.  She was not the mean person some mistake her to be.
I was also really interested in the background of dieting.  I loved hearing about Lord Byron.  I loved the quotes she chose to introduce each chapter.  I just found this book to be a great book.  I don't think that I could do the Grey Sheet deal.  I don't know if that would help me.
Now that I am struggling maintaining without feeling that I will regain, and thus ruin all my chances of being approved by David Levithan, I am willing to try anything, but I just don't know if Grey Sheet would be more of the same, regarding restricting, or it would be freeing.
In any case, criticisms that Ms. Collins name-drops are kinda weak.  And I think that her whole approach to the book is a humble one.  She is very quick to say that it might work for you, it might not.  I highly recommend this book.
The criticism that those with eating disorders must learn to "make friends with food" rather than "conquer" it is not valid for everyone.  I would that is akin to saying and alcoholic must make friends with Jack Daniels or a heroin addict must learn to just hang out with opioids.  Just something to consider.

Creepy...

Cyn Balog wrote Sleepless and Fairy Tale and I really, really liked them so very much.  She is a creep-tasticly good author.  I should read more of her stuff.  I didn't love Unnatural Deeds as much as FT and Sleepless and I wonder if that is because I listened to it and it was hard to follow that way? Because I truly think that Balog is good good good!!!  The only thing is that I did figure this out before the end.  Which is really unusual for me!  I also wish I would have learned more about Z. Still, I would recommend it, but to read, not audio unless one is smarter than I- which is probably 99.99% of the population!

Lost and Found

The Search for Belle Prater is the sequel to Belle Prater's Boy.  I was so glad to see this available for download.  In it, Woodrow and Gypsy make some new friends who help them in their search for Woodrow's mother.  I liked also, being that the book is set in 1954 that the issue of prejudice and discrimination is addressed when the kids meet Joseph Lincoln, an African American boy who is looking for his father, like Woodrow is looking for his mom.

Belle of the Ball

Belle Ball is a pretty bad name.  I mean, I thought my name was bad.  But Belle Prater had Belle Ball as her name until she married her husband.  Yeah. Belle Ball.
That is neither here nor there!
I have often seen and heard tell of Belle Prater's Boy.
But I had not read it until now.
This is just SUCH a great book.
And it won a Newbery Honor!
This is the story of Gypsy and Woodrow, cousins.  Woodrow is Belle Prater's boy, Belle went missing, just up and left.  And Gypsy's dad died and I won't give away any more about that.  And they are both dealing with the loss of a parent.  And life and rumors in a small town.  And family secrets and just being middle school aged.  They live in the fictional town of Coal Station, VA and White's writing just brings the place to life.  There is also a sequel, The Search for Belle Prater, which I hope to read as well.

The Ants Go Marching

At first I was put off by the language and masturbation jokes that fill the first few pages of We Are the Ants. Not because of the subject or the words but because I thought "this is approach has been done to death," thinking of Grasshopper Jungle and Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian.
But I read some reviews and I kept on reading and I am so thankful that I did. The book ended up being so much more than that and as I wrote this, I can't tell you with any certainly if there was any more swearing and/or masturbation stories. I actually would wager that there wasn't, but I wouldn't bet my life on it, but yeah, I would ante up some cash.
Thing is, I got sucked right into the story because there is A LOT in this story.
Here is the question that faces our hero: if you could press a button and save the world from destruction, would you do it?
So many issues arise in this book and it is so real-life. I mean, I hope there aren't too many teens who are dealing with: a loved one's dementia and decisions surrounding her care, a long-absent father, a boyfriend who committed suicide, a still-born baby, bullying, rape, depression and alien abduction all at once.
There are adults who deal with all of that at once, yes, I know for sure, but a 16 year old? I hope not too many.
Still because I sadly do know people who have had these kinds of troubles and more heaped upon them at once (okay-not the alien one) the book is completely real-life believable.
Is this Printz-worthy? In my humble opinion, I definitely think so.

Sylvia

Not this Sylvia.  But this one.  I was never interested in learning much about Sylvia Plath.  I think that I grouped her into this terrible category with Lisa, Bright and Dark, which I read at way too young of an age to understand, I think.  I was eight and the book just terrified me.  The girl who lived across the street from me had an older sister and she and her friends were all reading it, so I wanted to read it to.  After they read LBAD they were reading The Bell Jar and after my nightmare experience with LBAD, I was determined to stay away from Sylvia Plath!  This was a pretty amazing book, though.  Stephanie Hemphill has written this novel is verse and she is very clear that it is a work of fiction, but there is a lot of biographical information in here and wow, I can see why this won the Printz.  I am going to buy her Hideous Love:  The Story of the Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein on audio on payday!  I wish Wicked Girls was available on audio, too.  There is just something that I love about listening to novels in verse.  I enjoy the experience so much more than when I read them.
One of things that made this book so good was that Hemphill says from the start that she loves Sylvia Plath, that Plath's writing has always meant a lot to her.  This reads like a love story, you can really tell that Hemphill was hoping to create a work dedicated to an author she admires so very much.  I don't think I will ever read Plath, but I am going to read everything from Hemphill that I can find!

One Death, Many Stories

Maya Angelou

Walter Dean Myers

and now, Joan Rivers.
I had just written about Joan Rivers after reading Diary of a Mad Diva. I have said before, September is cruelest month.
A lot of people didn't like Joan Rivers.  And even I wrote some cruel stuff about her, as I reread my review of Diary of a Mad Diva.  I am angry at myself for quoting some web comment somewhere that "Joan River's day has come and gone."  As I think back, I was copping out, just trying to be "hip" and "now" and well, the truth is, I didn't even know about River's In Bed with Joan, and I had never watched Melissa and Joan:  Joan Knows Best?  Because I am not hip, now or anything of the sort.  Come on, I am a librarian.  That should tell you everything.  I was kidding myself.
I knew the old Joan Rivers.  I had read The Life and Times and Heidi Ambromovitz and Enter Talking when I was in junior high and high school and Still Talking in college.  But I didn't know anything about the glorious later years of Ms. River's career.  I only knew that she was part of growing up, an influence during my formative years.  In these days following her death, I have read everything I can about her.  My dear friend, Mrs. Pintar and I have been mourning together.  Jane Velez-Mitchell said this, "You know, she spoke these truths that other people preferred to sugar coat. One of a kind. She did so much for all women who are in-front of the camera. I probably benefited myself from the fact that she was a trail blazer. All women who are in any way shape of form performers benefited from this woman breaking the glass ceiling with her -- ovaries. She had the ovaries to tell the truth."
Of course I will never be a famous performer.  And sermons are CERTAINLY not performances.  I am not saying that at all.  But at the same time, they are done in front of a group of people and it is a very, very humbling and daunting task.  To take the most important, precious words in the history of the world and try to convey to a group of people what God has led you to say...well it is hard to describe.
And in the other things that I do, storytime or storytelling or stand up. Those are performances in their own way.  So yeah, I benefited greatly from Joan Rivers.
When she died I wondered how the world would react.  She was always under fire for many of her comments.  I wondered if that would be her legacy.  As far as I can tell, she wasn't.  I am sure if I looked, I could find articles dwelling on the controversial aspects of her life, but you know, I won't.  I did look to see if Westboro Baptist had anything to say and they did, so I figure she was pretty effective in doing the right and good things while she was here on earth.
Does this have anything to do with One Death, Nine Stories?  Yes I think so.  Any time a person leaves this earthly life, it is going to impact more than just that one person.  I hope anyway.  Here was have a young man, Kevin, a recent high school graduate who kills himself.   The book consists of different people, a sister, a good friend, a former friend, a total stranger.
The book is a collection of short stories, popular authors taking a different chapter and a different POV.  I listened to the book, so I couldn't easily go back and know who was writing what, but now that I have looked at who wrote what, and I am not surprised that the stories I enjoyed the most are by authors I really enjoy.  Marina Budhos and Rita Williams-Garcia had stories that were five star worthy, but I didn't enjoy the other stories as much.
It just seemed a little chopped up to me.  But hey...look at how much the book made me think? So...that is a good thing.

Powerful

,

Tom Leveen continues to grow as a writer and I am always excited to see what he has brought forth next.  Random was an incredible story, sure to be popular because of the subject matter.  Tori and her friends are being prosecuted for their influence in causing another teen to commit suicide.  This is a tough, tough book.  What I love about Leveen's characters, as I said in my review of manicpixiedreamgirl, is that they not all good or all bad.  Just like real people, they are complex.  As heinous as Tori's crime is, I still found myself feeling sympathy for her.  The night before she is to give her plea, she answers a wrong number on her cell phone and the boy on the other end is contemplating suicide.  Their all-nighter conversation reveals a lot about Tori, to us and to herself.  Tori and her friends did much of their bullying online, which makes this book even more relevant.  Random comes out later this year, many thanks to Simon Pulse for providing the eARC through Edelweiss. 

A Tale of Two Emilys

And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard was an eARC from netgalley and it had a great cover and so I read it.  Again, I know as well as anyone not to judge a book by its cover, but in this case, I am glad I did.  And We Stay was a 5-Star read.  Heart-breaking and hopeful.  I didn't realize until I finished the book that the author's first book was Paper Covers Rock, which I really didn't like at all.  I didn't like it so much, that I doubt I would have given And We Stay a chance, had I remembered.  I'm glad I didn't remember, though, because And We Stay was beautifully written and realistic and I learned so much about Emily Dickinson.  The book is set in Amherst, Massachusettes, where Dickinson was born, lived a pretty much reclusive life and died.  The Museum itself actually figures prominently in the story. 
Emily Beam's ex-boyfriend, Paul commits suicide in their school library and Emily is dealing with all of the guilt and hell left behind.  In an attempt to heal, she transfers to a boarding school in Amherst.  The ghost of Emily Dickinson is all around and it helps Emily Beam to face the sorrows of her past.  Well drawn characters and a wonderful use of setting.  Great, heart-breaking story, with a lot of terrific, soul-ripping poetry as well.  Really enjoyed this book.

Give Me One Reason

Well, Hannah Baker gave more than one reason, she gave thirteen reasons for her suicide in 13 Reasons Why.  This book is very hot.  Everyone seems to love this book.  And I liked it.  It is very sad, of course, dealing with teen suicide.  But you know that going in, so you are prepared.  Still, it is original, in that the whole deal is Hannah Baker commits suicide, but before she does, she makes cassette tapes explaining why, calling out those who lead her to suicide.  Basically though, Hannah seems to blame no one but herself, as the tipping point seems to something that she failed to do.  Good book.  Good for discussion.