The Sledding Hill

By Chris Crutcher


Summary:

Eddie hasn't had an easy year
First his father dies. Then his best friend Billy accidentally kicks a stack of Sheetrock over on himself, breaking his neck and effectively hitting tilt on his Earthgame. Eddie and Billy were inseparable. Still are. Billy isn't going to let a little thing like death stop him from hanging in there with his friend. And when Eddie faces an epic struggle with the powers that be, Billy will remain right there beside him.

My Thoughts:
This is the first Chris Crutcher novel I've read. And I really enjoyed it.
I like how the topic of censorship and free thought was a central theme.
The relationship between Billy and Eddie was wonderfully crafted.
The only thing that really threw me was how the author inserted his real name and self as a character. I wasn't expecting it, and personally that just stuck out in a way I didn't really enjoy. Overall, The Sledding Hill was a great concept, and I loved that Billy was the omnipresent narrator, even though he was dead.

In My Book Bag

My original goal was to post an In My Book Bag every Friday... but now that it's summer, my library visiting habits are a bit up in the air. So for the next two months I'll just be updating whenever I get a new stack of books on my shelf.

After Hamelin

By Bill Richardson

This is a book that I thoroughly enjoyed when it was read to me 6 or 7 years ago.

It's a retelling of the famous tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

Re-reading it now, I still love it just as much.

Thornspell

Helen Lowe

I just picked this one up, based on the reasoning that I feel like I haven't read a fantasy book in a while(After Hamelin being the excepting). I've never heard of this book before.

So we'll see what I think.

Returnable Girl

By Pamela A. Lowell

I had never heard of this book before either, but it caught my eye, so I added it my pile.

This book was published in 2006, which seems like forever ago.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

By J.K. Rowling

This is actually the cover of the copy that was waiting for me on the hold shelf.

I have only ever read this series through once, and I feel like I want to work my way through them again this summer.

Book Bag

I recently found this video on YouTube:

How awesome would it be to have a purse made out of a book?

This makes me want to go thrift store hunting to find an old book and make one of these for myself!

Miles From Ordinary

By Carol Lynch Williams

Summery:
Thirteen-year-old Lacey wakes to a beautiful summer morning excited to begin her new job at the library, just as her mother is supposed to start work at the grocery store. Lacey hopes that her mother's ghosts have finally been laid to rest; after all, she seems so much better these days, and they really do need the money. But as the hours tick by and memories come flooding back, a day full of hope spins terrifyingly out of control....
“No one can get inside the head and heart of a 13-year-old girl better than Carol Lynch Williams, and I mean no one," said James S. Jacobs, Professor of Children's Literature at Brigham Young University, of her breakout novel, The Chosen One. Now this award-winning YA author brings us an equally gripping story of a girl who loves her mother, but must face the truth of what life with that mother means for both of them.


My Thoughts:
This book actually has a lot of parallels with the last book I read/reviewed on this blog.
One is that the protagonist feels like a nobody.
I really enjoyed reading Miles From Ordinary.
It was a fairly quick read, once I set my mind to finishing it(and also having a day at the beach to do nothing but lounge and read helped too).
Now that I think about it, the entire story really took place over a span of one day.
Which is something that I don't seem to find very often.
It was effective, but also a very full crazy day.
Over all it was quite good.
The flip-flopped mother daughter relationship was intriguing and kept me interested, and also made me worried for Lacey and her situation.
There is so much pressure on her to take care of her mother, and herself.
I can't imagine ever having to deal personally with anything like that.


Quote:
"Together we climbed on the Peace City bus and road back towards my house. My almost normal feeling was gone. I was miles from ordinary now. Miles."

Summer Reading Plans

My posts have been fairly sporadic lately.
I haven't been reading too much for my own pleasure.
Now that it's summer, all of that is going to change!

I have a fairly healthy stocked bookshelf, and one of my goals is to get a few more of the books I own read and reviewed.

Including:

The Lord of The Rings - JRR Tolkien
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Specials/Extras - Scott Westerfeld (the last two books of the Uglies series)
How To Build a House - Dana Reinhardt
The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis

There are several others. But I think those have highest priority right now.

Wonderland

By Joanna Nadin

Synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Jude has to get out of tiny Churchtown. She has to escape her outcast status and her pathetic dad, who hasn’t gotten past her mother’s death. The one bright light is drama, her way out, if only she can get into the Lab, a prestigious program in London. Then Stella, Jude’s childhood best friend, swaggers in after years away. With bold and magnetic Stella by her side, Jude knows she’s capable of anything. But Stella’s influence extends well beyond the theater. Soon Stella’s wild and dangerous streak begins to cause trouble for Jude -- yet Jude can’t bring herself to abandon Stella and the attention she’s always craved. And besides, now that Stella’s back, there’s no stopping her. In Jude’s dark and tangled story, British author Joanna Nadin plumbs the aftermath of loss and the consequences of becoming the person you always wished you were.

She’s back. Jude’s childhood friend -- sexy, daring Stella-- returns to their stifling hometown, and life will never be the same again

My Thoughts:

     I've seen a lot of mixed reviews of this book on Good Reads, but to be honest, I really enjoyed it.
At first I just thought it was the worn out tale of girl with the brilliant best friend who outshines her in everything, but it is so much more.
   I started figuring things out for myself before the big reveal near the end of the book, and I wished Nadin had taken more of an opportunity to explore how Jude felt about what she just found out. That part of the story was all a bit to rushed and sudden.
    Jude's passion to be an actor was believable, and her experience was relateable to me as someone who is involved with performing arts.
    The theme of identity was prevalent throughout the novel. Jude's struggle seemed genuine enough, rather typical, but it was there.
    Over all I liked this book. I didn't really know what it was about when I started reading it, but I'm glad I did.

The Book of Lost Things

By John Connolly


Summery:

High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness. Angry and alone, he takes refuge in his imagination and soon finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld. While his family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled into a world that is a strange reflection of his own -- populated by heroes and monsters and ruled by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book, The Book of Lost Things.
Taking readers on a vivid journey through the loss of innocence into adulthood and beyond, New York Times bestselling author John Connolly tells a dark and compelling tale that reminds us of the enduring power of stories in our lives.

My Thoughts:

I read this book awhile ago and really enjoyed it.
It was the list of possible choices for my ISU, so I decided to revisit it.
This week I'm mostly focusing on getting that sucker done. It's due on Friday, and I haven't even started yet...

I love fairy tales, and this was like one of the originals.
Dark, sinister, twisted and a little bit gory.
But still there was a slant of childhood light through out.

I'm kind of excited to get to write more in depth about this book for my course.
But also a bit nervous, since I've never worked on an ISU before.