Firegirl

I grabbed Firelgirl from the library on a whim while I was there a few days ago.  It was a quick read (I finished in one day) and it was decent.  It's the story of a boy named Tom and how his seventh grade class handles the arrival of a new girl.

Thing is, Jessica isn't your average new student.  She's been burned in a horrible fire and came to the new school to be closer to a good burn hospital.  The seventh graders react exactly how you'd expect: in extremely varying ways.  This is a good story of what it means to be accepting and how to deal with differences.  I definitely see myself using this as a teacher in a classroom situation where students aren't treating each other appropriately.  So, not the most exciting personal read (because it's intended for a much younger audience), but definitely something useful and worthwhile.  

Seeing Redd

It's been years since I read the original book in this series, The Looking Glass Wars.  It made me nervous to read Seeing Redd because sometimes you just can't remember the things you need to that far away.  That was not the case with Frank Beddor's sequel.  I read the brief overview of the original on Wikipedia and then dove in.  

It's books like this that make me wish I didn't have the overwhelming need to finish books I start.  I didn't enjoy it.  Beddor has created a really interesting and unique world and characters that could be insanely intriguing and awesome.  The fact is, they just seem to fall flat.  Alyss is unfailingly good and slightly overwhelmed, Redd is evil, Arch is conniving, the Jack of Diamonds is fat and self-interested.  The characters don't really expand outside of these stereotypes.  Instead the author seems intensely and exclusively focused on the battle scenes and the gore.  So, while I did quite enjoy the first book years ago, I didn't love this one.  The truth is, I grabbed it off the shelf because I was SO desperate for something to read and I saw it.  Now I have a whole stack of books waiting for me that I need to get on.  

Life of Pi

I just read this book, Life of Pi.  I found it extremely interesting.  From Pi's search for religion in the beginning to his unlikely survival techniques on a life boat with a full grown male tiger.  

I'm not overwhelmingly in love with it like the world seems to be (as indicated by it's reign on the New York Times Bestseller's list, but the fact that I read something on that list after it got there is kind of astounding.  I think the concept of surviving on a lifeboat with a tiger is unique and makes for a good, solid story.  All of that said, I hated the last two chapters.  I wish I had put down the book and stopped reading. 

Living Dead Girl

Heads up: this book is disturbing.  Living Dead Girl is the tale of "Alice" who was kidnapped from an aquarium while on a class trip when she was ten.  At the time of the book telling she is fifteen and has been living with her captor and molester for five years.  She hates her situation and begs inwardly for death so she doesn't have to deal with her pain anymore.

When Alice starts to get too old for her captor's sickening tastes, she develops a plan to get away.  How far will she go to improve her life situation?  Far. 

Again, this is a disturbing book.  I don't know that I particularly recommend it or don't recommend it.  It was compelling and I really like the use of the term "living dead girl" to express how Alice feels as she lives.  Be careful, though.  If you're sensitive or can't handle Law and Order: Special Victim's Unit or just generally don't find reason to read these types of stories, don't read this book.  

Beautiful Boy

Beautiful Boy is, as the text in red says, is a father's narration of his son's decent into meth addiction.  David Sheff tells the story of his son Nick's struggle with drugs.  Nick starts his life like any other little boy: beautiful.  He loves his dad and they seem to be closer and happier than most parent child relationships, despite the messy custody situation between David and Nick's mother.  From a preteen run-in with alcohol to a marijuana habit to harder drugs, Nick seems to fall quickly.  His poor choices impact his family, perhaps his father most profoundly.  Nick's story, told by his father David, is heartbreaking and real and a well-researched eye opening read for anyone. 

It's obvious that David Sheff did his research.  He knows how meth affects the brain (to the degree that it is understood) and how rehab works.  I love how personal the story is and how easy it is to get attached to these real life people.  It seems that I've become a sucker for good characters, be they real or fictional.  This is another book that I highly recommended.  In fact, I'm now on the waiting list for Tweak which is the same story except from the perspective of the addicted son, Nick.  Read this book - do it. 

Lost Boy

I told you I was reading serious books right now.  This is one of them.  Brent Jeffs (nephew of Warren Jeffs, former prophet of the FLDS church) wrote Lost Boy which chronicles his childhood on the FLDS compound where he grew up.  

Jeffs brings the human element to a story most of us know to some degree.  It was only a few years ago that Warren Jeffs was front page news all across the country.  The book can get slightly graphic at times while describing the abuse Jeffs faced as a very young child.  That being said, I definitely recommend this book for anyone even moderately interested in developing a greater understanding of the things that really occurred during that time period in the FLDS church.

I want to mention one more thing.  Religious topics and stories especially from people who have left that religion can often have unfair biases.  While Jeffs's opinions come through loud and clear, he does not disparage the religion as a whole, which I appreciate.  

Liar

Last night I finished listening to Liar by Justine Larbalestier.  Before the review, a couple of things about audio books.  First: I do consider listening to audio books to be reading books.  Secondly: The program I'm using to listen to books from the library let's me play them a little faster than normal (I go with 1.4x speed) which I like.  To me audio books are less about the performance and more about the content.  Lastly: (the does not negate my first point) I think something is a little bit lost by listening to a book rather than reading.  Sometimes the formatting of a book is really important and short of the narrator saying, "Title in bold size 16 font left aligned on the page" there is no way to retain this.

I listened to most of this book yesterday while I was making some desserts.  The story is about a teenage girl named Micah.  Micah is a compulsive (probably pathological) liar.  Her story begins after her boyfriend is murdered.  She promises the reader to give her story with only the truth for the first time ever.  The mystery of the circumstances surrounding the murder, her family life, and her struggles dealing with "the family disease" surround Micah's story.

It would be impossible for me to give a good summary of the story without revealing something that took me by surprise about a third of the way through the book.  Micah's story takes a jarring turn by one of her revelations that switches even the genre of the book itself.  At first I was frustrated with the turn of events and it made me role my eyes, but that was just at first.  Then, it grew on me.  The pace of the story picked up and this very common plot device was handled in a way I found at least moderately refreshing. I thought the story was good and don't regret reading it, but it wasn't the best thing I've ever read.