"Wide Awake" by David Levithan

See? I told you I'd make a post! This is an awesome (though admittedly quite short) book. Here we go...

It starts with a short chapter, not even half a page. Not even a respectable paragraph, but still – wonderful in its all its brevity. 

" 'I can't believe there's going to be a gay Jewish president.' As my mother said this, she looked at my father, who was still staring at the screen. They were shocked, barely comprehending. 

Me? I sat there and beamed."

Duncan is sixteen in the near future, after the Greater Depression and the War to End All Wars. And now, after all the fear and anger of the past, comes something wonderful. The Jesus Revolution, the Prada Riots, the rise of the green states. A president – Abraham Stein – who is going to bring everyone together in "the Great Community". Duncan, as a gay Jewish boy, is ecstatic. So is his boyfriend, Jimmy, and Janna and Mandy, their friends and self-proclaimed "Jesus Freaks", named after a song that the popular band Holy Ghostwriter had written. Things are finally going right!

But not everyone is happy. Mr. Davis, for one: the history teacher at their high school. Jesse Marin, a boy at school with a nasty following.

And then... the unthinkable happens. On the way to a party the day after the announcement of Stein's victory, the governor of Kansas decides that his state's votes need to be recounted. That Stein didn't really win by over a thousand votes. And that this election is definitely not over.

" 'Come to Kansas.' "  This is Stein's response. Come to Kansas. Let's make this state see the truth.

So they do – Jimmy, Duncan, Janna and Mandy, Keisha and Mira, Virgil and Sara, and more, plus the hitchhikers they pick up on the road. Kansas is going to be full this weekend...

A fantastic work, full of confusion, teenage angst, and love, plus a little politics and hope for the future. David Levithan is an artist!

– sometimes here, sometimes not, but definitely excited for tomorrow (!),

Cassandra

Coming soon to blogs near you...

Hey everyone! Or, everyone that's left, that is...

Sorry I've been so inconsistant. There is a new post coming up soon, probably Saturday or Sunday, in honor of the inauguration. Wide Awake, by David Levithan. He's also the person who wrote Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist along with Rachel... somebody. You know, the book that says fuck every other word?

ANYHOW. New post over the weekend!

–procrastinatingly yours (and not sure if that's a word)

Cassandra

"The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd

Well! Long time no see, eh? Anyhow, I read this book a really long time ago and adored it, and now that the movie's out... well, why not?

Lily Owens has bees in her bedroom. Every night she hears them buzzing behind the walls, like a low murmur of comfort just beyond her sight. She lives with her cruel father, T. Ray, and Rosaleen, her black nanny and stand-in mother. Her real mother died when she was four in an accident with a gun. 

It's 1964 and the president has just signed the Civil Rights Act. So on Lily's fourteenth birthday, Rosaleen goes to town to register to vote and takes Lily with her. But when the town's three most racist men attack Rosaleen for trying to register, things start to take on a life of their own. Lily packs a bag, breaks Rosaleen out of jail and sets off to Tiburon, SC: a town scrawled in her mother's handwriting on the back of a strange picture.  When the two get there, the picture guides them to a flamingo-pink house where the calendar sisters live: May, June and August Boatwright. August is a beekeeper, and through a few lies and sweet smiles, Lily and Rosaleen are allowed to stay.

The house is like a safe haven, where Lily can relax and not be afraid. But secrets are meant to be told. May accidentally tells Lily that her mother had stayed there before she died. After a tragic death in the family, Lily confides to August: she had killed her mother.

Throughout the book, the Black Madonna is an ever-present force of comfort. This book isn't very religious; rather, it's a comforting presence that helps Lily come to terms with the truth and forgive her mother. A fabulous novel! Nine of ten ocean waves.

– licking honey off of her fingers, Cassandra

Anniversary!

Whoa! It's been exactly five months since my first post! They grow up so fast. *sniffles and dabs at tears daintily* 

Before I get kicked off the computer for the evening, I propose a toast: to Liesl, for forcing me to make this blog. To the library two blocks away, and the one at my school, and all the countless bookstores I've been to, for supplying me with my material. And of course, to you guys. If I hadn't seen the comments and known people were reading, I'd've quit months ago. Thanks. : )

– Cassandra

"Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac" by Gabrielle Zevin

Wow. Long time no post, eh? Anywho...

It all starts in late August of her junior year. They flip a coin to choose who goes back to get the yearbook camera, and Naomi chooses heads. The next thing she knows, she's lying in an ambulance with a boy who says she fell down the stairs. But she doesn't remember doing that. In the hospital, she slowly comes to realize that she can't remember anything from age twelve and onward – four years lost. She can't remember why she likes her hot jock boyfriend, Ace. She can't remember why her best friend, Will, calls her Chief. She can't remember her mother's affair, her father's fiancée, or even how to drive.

But in forgetting, Naomi becomes herself. In a small way, this is a story about rebelling against yourself, or who people thought you were. It's a love story; how she dumps Ace, falls in and out of love with the moody James, the boy from the ambulance, and how, near the end of the book, remembers a kiss from someone unexpected. It's a story of friends, how she re-befriends quirky Will, finds new friends in a school play, and finally befriends her half-sister, Chloe and forgives her mother.

An excellent book – different from Zevin's other book, Elsewhere (though you should totally read that one, too) it's deeper and darker in a shy way. The characters are flawed and touching, confused and thoughtful. I love how the whole book is interspersed with gifts from Will – CDs that he burns and gives to Naomi to try and help her remember her old self. A definite 8 out of 10 waves!

– Cassandra

"Unwind" by Neal Shusterman

Far in the future, we have finally settled the argument between the pro-life and the pro-choice, after a war that could've been the end of our country. The solution: Unwinding.

This is a process that our government came up with at the last minute. There are no more abortions. You must have the child, and either Stork it (placing it on a random stranger's doorstep, after which the child is legally theirs) or raise it until the child is thirteen, and then you have a choice until they're eighteen: keep the kid, or send it to an unwinding camp, where the boy or girl is unwound – surgically taken apart piece by piece, the body parts saved for spares. Someone breaks an arm? No big deal – just get another. Have cancer? Eh, whatever. You can replace that part of you with someone else's. Everyone's happy.

Right?

Not the teens who are being sacrificed.

Unwind follows three teens: Connor, 16, whose parents have finally decided to have him unwound because he's too much trouble. Risa, a ward of state, is being shipped off because she's too expensive. And Lev, who is a tithe: since birth, he's known this was to be his fate. His parents have given ten percent of everything they own to charity, and that includes their son.

Connor runs. Risa is on the bus when it crashes, and joins him, a total stranger, in her escape. And Lev is "abducted" by the two desperate teens who are sure they are saving him. But life on the run isn't easy. Not when there's juvie cops and starvation and spies tossed into the mix...

Definitely a great book – a bit creepy, but what can you expect from a plot like that? The characters are pretty believable. Connor has anger issues, Risa just hides all her emotion, and Lev is definitely in denial. But they develop, and the ending wraps up the story well. Eight of of ten waves!

– Cassandra

"WItch Child" by Celia Rees

Sorry for the long-time-no-update – school, homework,  yadda yadda yadda. Anywho.

It starts with drama and heartache, in the form of 16-year-old Mary's grandmother. A kind healer-woman, she has been condemned as a witch. Her neighbors, who she's helped many times, now turn against her. After torture and starvation, she is hanged – and now that the "witch" is dead, attention may turn to her granddaughter.

A rich woman takes Mary away from the site of the murder and tells her she is going to America, acting as a young orphaned Protestant. In a small trunk of essentials, Mary finds a journal and a note – the woman is her mother. 

The journey overseas is long and dangerous, though Mary meets and befriends Martha, Rachel and a ship's boy whose future she sees in the water. It seems that the peril of England is gone when the pilgrims reach the New World. But it is not so; an old woman warns her that superstitions are not banished, but multiplied by the dark forests, full of natives and unexplored dangers and wild animals.

And though Mary befriends a few of her neighbors, the rest are not so kind. So when the preacher's son takes an interest in Mary and Rachel falls in love, some are not satisfied. There are two that come to Mary for witching: Hannah and Sarah. But when Mary refuses their requests and denies her witchcraft, the girls take matters into their own hands.

An excellent read! Celia Rees is way up there on my favorite author list, up in the top ten. She weaves a tale of dark and light, full of hope and evil, good and loneliness. It ends in a huge cliff-hanger, but luckily there's a second one: Sorceress. 

Eight out of ten waves!

"Weregirls: Birth of the Pack" by Petru Popescu

Lily and her friends have finally succeeded in making an all-girls soccer club at their school, and are on a roll. The Weregirls (that's their team name) practice on the run-down field with beat-up  goals and play other teams, winning constantly. Lily, Nikki, Arielle and Grazia are ecstatic... until someone else comes into the play (pardon the pun). Andra Hewlit appears to be your-average pretty rich blonde girl, but underneath she's really much worse than that. She wants control of Lily's soccer team (insert fainting and screams of terror)!!! To Lily's friends, Andra seems innocent enough – and even better, if she gets to be the captain of the team, they'll all get new uniforms and shoes, and even be upgraded from just a club to a school team! Yay!

Nikki, Arielle and Grazia are all for it, but Lily isn't so sure. There's something weird up with Andra – she seems almost obsessed with the soccer team, and is convinced that Lily has "magical powers" of some sort. Lily refuses Andra, obviously. So Andra gathers together her own team, even stealing girls from the Weregirls to make an elite force. Her intention is obvious, and after a few pages, Andra challenges Lily and her team to a match; if Lily wins, she keeps the team. If Andra wins, she takes over. Of course, the Weregirls win. But Andra kicks Lily viciously in the leg, so Lily has to go home and care for her leg. At home, she finds a strange mirror, and when she looks in it, she sees a cute puppy dancing around, and she hears the spirit of her dead father telling her that she is a weregirl, meant to fight against the evil Breed that threatens the world. As it turns out, all of Lily's friends are wolves, too! And there's this super hot guy who is obviously interested in Lily, even though her dad warns her that they can't be together because she's a wolf. Sigh. Of course Lily disobeys dear old dad and pursues the hottie anyway. Anywho, it turns out Andra is in league with the Breed, la-de-la-la. Etc, etc.

This book is literally the worst book I've ever read. The plot is utterly predictable, the characters unoriginal, and the writing boring. The author tries to save the book with a forbidden romance and a big fight scene at the end, but ugh. And in the epilogue, she tries to get a little sympathy for Andra, but eh. All I saw was that Lily and Andra both refuse to obey authority, the Breed are waking up (boo hiss) and there is no hope for the next book.

Erm... one out of ten waves for trying. Otherwise – nah, there's nothing.

I have edited this post so you can't read it! Muahaha! Anyway, it's not anything you'd be interested in. I was wrong, anyways

Assistance, s'il-vous plait! 

You can tell when I start speaking French that I'm either a) frazzled, b) excited or {in this case} c) eeek!!!

Has anyone here ever had appendicitis? Anyone? I'm looking for some advice... what happens, how long the surgery takes to remove that damned little appendix, etc. 

Pro: This isn't for me, fortunately.

Con: This is for my little sister. Hm, lower right abdominal pain, not eating, other things I'm not going to talk about – all points to appendicitis. Right now my parents are driving her down to the hospital to get checked out and figure out if this is really appendicitis or just some overreaction... my grandma (who, coincidentally is a nurse) thinks it's gonna blow soon if we don't get it out. I'm stuck with sitting at home with some guests (but you guys are awesome to be stuck at home with, Liesl and Carla) writing this post in hopes for some real-time info. I'm too nervous to go google it and surf through a hundred billion answers.

HELP! Pretty please? *hopeful smile*

"Enter Three Witches" by Caroline B. Cooney

The book starts in a kitchen, with the cook, Swin, telling of her alleged  visit the Weird Ones on the moor last night. Mary of Shiel, a young ward of Lord and Lady Macbeth, is shocked, so when Swin escapes again to the moor, she follows.

In the meantime, told from the points of view of Fleance and Seyton, one the coddled son of Banquo, the other Macbeth's squire, a battle rages outside of the castle. Fleance is ordered to stay away from the fighting, with Seyton to watch over him. The shame is overwhelming – doesn't his father think he's good enough? But when Seyton kills and Fleance takes the credit, the young lord is satisfied.

Mary, however, is not. She's currently terrified out of her wits. After following Swin across the moor for a ways, she quickly got lost and ran into the Weird Ones. She demands to know what they've done with Swin – but when the three witches tell her to run, she gladly does. On the way, she sees the triumphant commanders of the army, Banquo and Macbeth, on the heath. What are they doing here?  she wonders, and listens in.

"All hail the Thane of Cawdor... All hail Macbeth, who shall be king hereafter!"

And so begins a bloodbath that leads to the rule of King and Queen Macbeth, the murder of wives and children, and moving forests come to battle the blood-crowned king...

In this clever retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth, told from five different points of view, our young heroine goes from cowardly little heiress, to cowardly little penniless girl, to brave (in some circumstances) little heiress again. The style is quite unique and sucks you into the dark story of madness, hatred, and unexpected heroics against unexpected villains. I give this book 4-5 waves (as in, ocean waves).

Exciting new thing!

As I was strolling along throughout the various blogs in my bookmarks, I happened to spot four wonderful words:

Book Blogger Appreciation Week! 

Honestly, I have no idea what this (fabulous) idea contains, but it sounds good to me! So, head on over to whatvanessareads.wordpress.com and figure out what she's talking about!

Also, a word of advice: never make quesadillas while checking your blog. You will burn it.

 

Gnawing unhappily on blackened tortillas and cheese,

Cassandra

"Angels on Sunset Boulevard" by Melissa de la Cruz

There's a new star in the sky, and his name is Johnny Silver. Rising from the depths of a poor life in the outskirts of LA, his music is entrancing, heart-touching and crowd-enticing. The headlines scream his name. He's started a new era of music.

But his girlfriend, Taj, has had enough. She's tired of seeing him with other girls, tired of life in the spotlight. So on the night of his biggest concert, she leaves him...

But she's watching as he ascends the stage, listening as the crowd roars his name loud enough to shake the sky down.

And she sees when, as he strikes the first chord, a blinding light flashes. And when her eyes clear, he's gone.

But Nick has his own problems, including that his hot and popular girlfriend, Maxine, has broken up with him and the disappearance of his sister, Fish. He shrugs these things aside – he can deal with a breakup, and Fish has vanished before, but she always comes back. Only when he meets Taj does he start to see the rising number of missing kids with suspicion.

In the middle of this mess is TAP. It's a website, where one can chat, laugh, and post up a "wish list" of anything you desire... but on TAP, people get you the things you ask for. And what about the mysterious back room at all of the TAP parties, hosted by the missing Johnny Silver's manager, Sutton?

Questions, questions, questions – all revolving around The Angels Practice (TAP) and the strange, intoxicating drink served in the back room.

My review is a resounding eh. This book falls somewhere between Twilight and Weregirls: the Birth of the Pack, the former being a Oh my god I've found the next Harry Potter! and the latter being Good god run screaming!! 

Angels on Sunset Boulevard is a far cry from the enticing Blue Bloods, but you can read it if you want. Again: eh.

One Looong Playlist (AKA, "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist")

Would you mind being my girlfriend for five minutes?

Would you ask that question? No, of course not. But what if you'd just seen your wonderful ex-girlfriend with someone new after a nasty breakup, and were desperate to avoid talking to her? Nick would.

Would you do it? Would you spontaneously make out with a total stranger (who may or may not be gay) who just asked you this relatively insane question? Norah would.

And so begins a wild and unpredictable night for Nick and Norah – two total strangers going on a strange semblance of a date, Norah because Nick's friends paid her to; Nick... well, he's not exactly sure. Maybe because she stole his jacket.

This rough and elegant novel spans just one night, but (despite the overuse of the word fuck) delves deeper into the characters' minds than any book I've ever read as it darts back and forth between the voices of the two main characters.

To sum it up, I loved this book!

Note to self: come up with rating system...

I decline, thanks very much

I vehemently (don't you love that word?) refuse to review Breaking Dawn. Maybe because I'm too chicken to put up my own opinion on the last of this internationally acclaimed author's series?

Yeah, that's probably it. I am chicken. Hear me squawk. Buck-buck-bucAWK! 

So. Yeah. Um, that's it.

Okayokayokay, I do have one tiny little comment: (spoiler alert!)

Why, I ask you, Stephanie, why did she have to get pregnant, for god's sake?! WHY? 

And, honestly, Renesmee? Yes, she is an adorable little girl (despite the fact that she'll be physically mature by the age of seven. That's a bit creepy.) but honestly: Renesmee? I know you could do better than that. Also, to have Jacob imprint on her was a bit over-the-top. 

And (Will it ever stop? you ask. Be patient. I'm venting.) why didn't you make the Volturi go bye-bye? I do NOT like those creepy old guys. I literally had a nightmare about Aro. You could've killed him off, but nooo.

Okay, I'm done. No more comments. I'll have a book review for the rest of y'all in a few days. I've read eleven books in the past week, so bear with me here. Just sorting out my head...

OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS!

Oh my goodness gracious/ Oh me oh my/ I see a pie/ Fall from the sky/ And in its tin/ Held out to me / Sat Breaking Dawn/ for all to see!

Breaking Dawn comes out tonight at midnight!!!! Right now I'm just venting my hysterical-ness to cyberspace so I don't explode in anticipation that in three hours (THREE!) the fourth (FOURTH!) book to Twilight will... not be in my hands?

What is this? you ask. What do you mean, a crazed Twilight fan like you won't have Breaking Dawn in your hands as soon as you can get your grubby mitts on it?

Well. I was so foolish as to pre-order it on Amazon, and now it's not coming for like two (TWO!) whole days! And – groans the agonized typist – I'm going to be away from the modern mail system for a week (SEVEN!).

Oh, the unfairness of it all!

(Ends self-pity mode)

Have a lovely evening!

"Big Fat Manifesto" by Susan Vaught

Jamie Carcaterra isn't obese. She's not chubby, chunky or "hormonally challenged", either (whatever that means), as she will loudly correct you in her new column "Fat Girl Manifesto" in The Wire, her school newspaper. Jamie is, as she insists, fat, and she's quite happy that way, thank you very much. She has two best friends, Nono and Freddie, and a great boyfriend, Burke, to boot. She's Evillene in the school play The Wiz. Everything's fine and dandy in Jamie Land. And she will gladly tell you this while also bashing down some myths and assumptions that "normal" people make about her and her fellows in the aforementioned column.

But, as it turns out, not everything is cheerful in Burke Land. He's tired of being fat, tired of not fitting into toilet stalls and airplane seats and having seven X's on his clothing tags. He's desperate, and he's getting bariatric surgery. The surgery that staples off part of your stomach. The surgery that some people don't come out of.

In the middle of all this, "Fat Girl Manifesto" is attracting the media, Burke – while he doesn't die – changes, and Jamie starts to realize that she doesn't know who she is anymore.

Big Fat Manifesto is a great book. Vaught handles her delicate subject with amazingly deft skills, and out of the darkness has come a work of art. If I could figure out how to paste pictures into my posts, I'd put one of that little movie guy jumping out of his seat.

"Little Brother" by Cory Doctorow

The time: A few years in the future. The place: San Francisco. What's happening: Terrorists.

Meet Marcus, your average high school hacker. His hobbies include hacking, ARGing with his friends Darryl, Vanessa and Jolu, and inventing ways to annoy his high school... until one day, when he skips school to go play computer games with his friends and the Bay Bridge blows up. Suddenly the Bay Area is in total chaos. Hundreds are dead, thousands injured or missing, and millions mourn. And Marcus and his friends? Well, they're missing, too....

Now the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) comes into the picture, as Marcus & co. are grabbed on the street, tied up and tossed into a truck to be carted to a secret prison. The four are separated, and questioned every day. Finally, after day after day of mistreatment, bare cells and cruel overseers, Marcus, Van and Jolu are released. Darryl is gone, and when the weary threesome troop home, the bay has changed. DHS officers patrol every corner. The BART system is a disaster. Cars are pulled over at random. It seems the DHS's new motto is "Everyone is the Enemy, so Treat All as the Enemy".

Marcus refuses to tolerate this new order. He starts up a new, untraceable system: Xnet. He wreaks havoc with the DHS's electronics, turning the innocent into the enemy and screwing with their files.

But they're going to catch up with him somehow...

Little Brother is an amazing book – there's no dull parts, no faulty characters, and a totally believable plot. Doctorow even manages to add a little romance into the mix! MUST READ! As Scott Westerfeld so aptly puts it, "A rousing tale of techno-geek rebellion."
Note: not suggested for younger kids (e.g., for 12 and up, not to restrict by age [I'm reading high school stuff myself] but there are several... suggestive scenes.) : )

"Watership Down"... second only to Twilight in my book

Down, down, to Watership Down. When Fiver warns Hazel of an unnamed danger coming to their warren, Hazel knows that it's not just his overly-jumpy nature that his younger brother is voicing. So when the leader of their warren refuses to act, Hazel takes matters into his own hands – or rather, paws. They're rabbits, in case you didn't know. But species makes no difference in this... I can't find a word, so I'll leave a list at the end of this post. Back to the book:

Hazel and a rag-tag group of rabbits set off to the place that Fiver tells them of, a new home on Watership Down.

The group encounters many dangers – some, such as the elil (predators), and some, less obvious. And when at last they find Watership Down, Hazel realizes: they have no does. No females, no kits, no warren. So they gather together, and plan a raid on the most dangerous warren they have ever seen...

This is book has shocked me out of my obsession with newer books and introduced me to classics. For that, I will be forever grateful. AND it's an... a... I give up trying to describe it. See list of adjectives below.

Presenting the list of adjectives one might use to describe Watership Down... in alphabetic order!!

amazing – astonishing – astounding – awe-inspiring – beyond belief – breathtaking – brilliant – dazzling – extraordinary – humbling (especially to us aspiring writers) – incredible – luminous – magnificent – marvelous – spectacular – wonderful.

A few poems

This is a poem by my friend – I think it's great, but I'm not sure I understand all of it... though in poetry, isn't that the point?

Wind blows;

Melancholy wind,

Where do you go?

Who do you see,

Why do you flow?

Girl cries;

Empty girl,

Where do you sleep?

Who do you love,

Why do you keep?

Wind asks;

Curious wind,

I sleep in my darkness,

I love no true thing,

I keep as the sky falls, the breeze laughs, the sun weeps.

Girl answers;

Loneliest girl,

I go across world-breaks,

I see your life end,

I flow as the clouds sigh, your broken heart mends.

Hmm... sad, yet sweet. Bittersweet, I guess, or melancholy. I love those words – such a nice ring to them.