Tuesday Ten: Quotes

This week's topic from The Broke and the Bookish is top ten favorite quotes. I thought this would be a perfect topic for me thanks to my notebook full of lines and passages from the books I read (my quote-book), but as it turns out it's impossible to choose my ten favorites. I have funny quotes, quotes that remind me of myself or something in my own life, quotes that are just flat-out gorgeously written, etc. And narrowing them down is too hard. Additionally, I know there are quotes I love that somehow haven't made it into the book. BUT ANYWAY. I've decided to choose my top ten quotes from books I've read (and managed to add to the book) this year.

In truth, it always hurt. It always hurt not to breathe like a normal person.

--The Fault In Our Stars, pg. 45

"I believe in true love, you know? I don't believe that everybody gets to keep their eyes or not get sick or whatever, but everybody should have true love, and it should last at least as long as your life does."

--The Fault In Our Stars, pg. 75 (Isaac)

"I don't think defeatism is honest," Dad answered. "I refuse to accept that." 

--The Fault In Our Stars, pg. 222

 This warm rush comes over me, like we're all in this giant snow globe together, a perfect moment captured under the glass, all histories and futures forgotten.

--Bittersweet, pg. 151-152

"Friends or not, I don't want to spend the rest of my life hating you."

--Bittersweet, pg. 243 (Kara)

In recent years her joy at seeing them was always mixed with anxiety that there would be some telltale change... a this or a that, that would separate one of them from the rest, or from their bond or from the past.

--Sisterhood Everlasting, pg. 46

That's how it feels to me. Everyone is doing it; everyone knows how. To live and be who they are and find a place, find a moment. I'm still waiting.

--How To Save A Life, pg. 157 (Mandy)

"You don't know. All kinds of people make all kinds of decisions that aren't by the book, and they have their reasons."

--How To Save A Life, pg. 161 (Dylan)

"I'm still going to love you, always. And in the rock-paper-scissors of life, love is rock. Fear, anger, everything else... no contest." Love is rock.

 --How To Save A Life, pg. 328 (Dylan)

And this last quote that's too long to be formatted like the rest but that I absolutely love.

"Oh my God," I say, pushing Thomas out of the way. "It's the tuba guy."
"The what?"
"This guy that Justine likes. He's in the same youth orchestra as her, but she's never spoken to him. He looks at her at the bus stop every morning, but there's no way that he'll ever know her name because she's so tongue-tied around him."
"Those relationships go nowhere," Thomas says. "Six years down the track you're still referring to her as the 'chick with the ponytail at the bus stop.' Tell her to stay away from it. It'll only end in heartbreak."

--Saving Francesca, pg. 173

Monday Writing: Help Me?

Project: sister story
Status: editing Piper (ch 8)

Help! I Don't Know What To Do.

I'm always torn, when I go to write a post for Monday, between talking about my own writing/editing (which, at the moment, is going slowly but nicely) and giving writing advice/tips. The problem with talking about my own writing is that it's probably interesting only to me. The problem with giving advice is I am completely totally unqualified to be giving advice in the first place.

Which means I don't know what to write about. What do you want to know about, writing-wise? Do you want me to talk about my own writing? Give advice? Is there a specific question you want answered? CLICK HERE TO GIVE ME YOUR INPUT BECAUSE REALLY I NEED IT.

All The Books: May 5, 2012

BOOKS I'M READING

 

I read Shooting Stars, which was cute but forgettable. And then My Invisible Boyfriend, which I was really nervous about not liking (the author's previous book is one of my absolute absolute faaaavorites). And though the book had plenty of flaws, it was quirky and sweet enough for me. At the moment I'm reading Little Princes: One Man's Promise To Bring Home The Lost Children of Nepal. My sister loves this book and I finally agreed to read it. So far it's very interesting and not nearly as depressing as I was afraid of it being.

BOOKS ON THE LIST

In a true testament of the effect a good cover/title can have on me there's the fact that I immediately added the forthcoming (but not until Dec.) Love And Other Perishable Items to my wanting list despite having seen the Australian version, Good Oil, numerous times before and never wanted to read it. So, bravo to whoever came up with the American title and cover. (Also, my local library actually has Good Oil in stock -- no idea how -- and I'm still going to wait on the US version of the book.) I've also added Prodigy, the second in Marie Lu's Legend series, to my list. The first one was so good and I'm eager to see Lu's futuristic world develop. I'm also really excited about Diverse Energies, the upcoming dystopian short story collection featuring racially diverse stories -- including one by Cindy Pon. (I'm extra excited about this one.)

BOOK COVERS

This book is out in September and I love the cover. However, since the book is paranormal there's a good chance I'm not going to read it, despite the fact that I adore both Siobhan Vivian and Jenny Han's writing. There's not a very clear summary for it yet, so I'll have to wait and see what the "supernatural element" is, but anyway I love the cover.

Review: The Rivals

THE RIVALS
Daisy Whitney
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Coming back to Themis Academy after summer, Alex Patrick's first year as leader of the Mockingbirds is off to a confusing, complicated start when a new student comes to her with allegations that a widespread cheating ring, aided by pharmaceutical drugs, is being carefully planned by a large group of students. This crime is less clear-cut than anything the Mockingbirds have went after before: there's no clear victim and they're not even sure who the accused are. But as clues start piling up, some of them pointing towards people Alex hate to think of as anything less than honest and innocent, the already complicated case gets even more confusing. And Alex, pushed into the role of vigilante justice leader, learns just how tricky the role is when she's torn between her friends and those she's vowed to protect, between what's right and what the rules say.

I was wary of (but excited about) a Mockingbirds (review) sequel, and, it turns out, with good reason. The case this time isn't nearly as cut-and-dried as Alex's date rape case was -- without a clear person (or group of people, even) who are accused, much of the book is taken up by the clue-gathering on the part of the Mockingbirds board (Alex, her boyfriend Martin, and third board member Parker) before there's even an accused to bring to trial. The specifics of the drug/cheating ring are often as confusing to the reader as they are to Alex and there are plenty of misdirects when it comes to who's masterminding the ring. Whereas The Mockingbirds was focused on the date rape issue, The Rivals deals more squarely with the Mockingbirds' brand of vigilante justice and just how well it works (or doesn't). Alex struggles with where the line is when it comes to justice, morality, and who should come first: her friends, or the Mockingbirds. It's clear that this second installment is leading up to the next book and various changes in how the Mockingbirds is run, but maybe because of this it falls prey to that "second book syndrome" in that much of the book feels like a set up for what comes next. Over halfway through the story I still felt like I was waiting for it to begin. (Part of this, maybe, is because the book's title doesn't make sense until nearly the very end.)

None of this is to say that there's not some captivating, important stuff in The Rivals, because there definitely is. Just how oblivious or ignorant the faculty and administration are is brought to the forefront in stunning ways; there were scenes between Alex and the dean of Themis that had me staring in shock at how certain things were viewed and treated. Alex, Martin, and her friend Jones' thoughts on justice, right and wrong, and how the case should be handled were very interesting, especially after reading The Mockingbirds where Alex was on the other side of the fence, so to speak. Having her pushed into a leadership position gives a very "insider" look at how the Mockingbirds operates and what those inside think of it, which was pretty awesome. Unfortunately, the main storyline (the drugs/cheating ring) had so many misdirects and took so long to find its footing that it didn't quite have the heft I felt that it needed to carry the rest of the book. Additionally, second-book syndrome and the fact that I found myself disagreeing with various characters' decisions mean that this one falls a bit short of it's predecessor. This was a good read, and I'm fairly sure (though not positive) that I'll be reading the next book in the series, but The Mockingbirds can certainly stand alone, and maybe it should.

Review: The List

THE LIST
Siobhan Vivian
Push

The list comes out every year. It names the prettiest girl and the ugliest girl in each grade at Mount Washington High School. This book follows the eight girls on the list over the course of seven days -- from the time the list is posted to the Homecoming Dance one week later. From Jennifer, the first girl to be named Ugliest four years in a row, right down to Abby, whose designation as the Prettiest freshman leads to further fighting with her brilliant but less-pretty older sister. The fact that nobody knows who's behind the list makes the designations more absolute and each of the eight girls must deal with their new identity, whether or not they feel they deserve it.

Powerful is the best word I can think of to describe this book. Through the different, overlapping stories of the eight girls, many different topics are covered. There's Jennifer and Margo -- the senior girls named ugliest and prettiest, who used to be best friends. There's Candace, who's named ugliest not because of her outsides, but because she has, as her friends put it, "always been a bitch." Lauren, the homeschool girl thrust into popularity by being named the prettiest sophomore. Abby, the freshman girl honored to be named prettiest although she feels bad for Danielle, the swimmer, whose new nickname is "Dan the Man" thanks to her inclusion on the ugly side of the list. And then, of course, Bridget, for whom being named prettiest junior only makes her life harder, and Sarah, the ugly girl who decides to fully embrace the label. These girls aren't nice. They aren't mean. They're a little bit of both, often in extremes. While most of them aren't girls I'd want to be like or want to be friends with, there's an undeniable reality to them that cuts right to the core.

I might not like these girls, but I can relate to them. As a girl, no matter how old you are, it's easy to put yourself in their position and ask yourself if you'd make the list -- and if so, what side? The ways they react feel fitting even in their extremity because this is an extreme situation. When I went to a panel with author Siobhan Vivian at the LA Times Festival of Books, her fellow author Jessi Kirby said that in high school, these are actually the highest stakes imaginable. And it's true: for these eight girls, their identity is stripped down to that one word: ugly. Or pretty. The question of who's behind the list runs in the background of the story, but much more important and pressing is the different ways the list affects the girls. I'd love to get into the details and talk about how much I hurt for Bridget, or how strongly I felt about Margo and Jennifer's intersecting storylines, but that would make this review so much longer than even I am comfortable with. So instead I'll say this: I'm 22. I've never had very big self-image issues. Body image has never been something I've struggled with. And even so, reading this book wrecked me in a way. Because it was so easy to see, even for me, how being on the list could ruin you -- reduce you not just in other people's eyes, but also in your own. And I hurt for the girls in this book, no matter who they were or how they reacted or even if I liked them. I wanted to hug them, tell them they would be okay even if that might take years and years.

For a contemporary YA novel that takes place over the span of just one week, it's amazing how much my opinion of these eight girls changed. There were girls I hated in the beginning that I ended up liking so much. And there were girls I liked in the beginning that, by the end, were so definitely on my short list. The relationships between the characters became clearer as the story went on and though I wanted a little more to the ending, this is undeniably one of the more powerful books I've read. It tackles huge topics -- body-image, but also friendship and perception and self-respect -- and handles them so well, so realistically. Honestly, it's hard not to feel a bit sucker-punched by this one, and that's a good thing.

Terra Elan McVoy Giveaway!!

Thanks to Terra Elan McVoy and her wonderful Simon & Schuster people, I'm hosting a giveaway of her entire backlist (Pure, After The Kiss, and The Summer of Firsts and Lasts), plus a signed copy of her newest novel, Being Friends With Boys. I'm very excited about this! McVoy is a sadly underrated voice in contemporary YA and I'm eager for more readers to be introduced to her books.

This giveaway is open to US readers only (sorry, international!). You can gain extra entries by commenting on my Q&A with the author or tweeting abut the giveaway.

This giveaway will close on May 16th -- two weeks from now.

Tuesday Ten: Books I Want Movies From

This week's topic from The Broke and the Bookish is books you'd like to see as movies. This is a hard list for me to make because books are so much better than movies and the last movie I saw was The Muppets when it came out on DVD, and I probably go to the actual theaters like two or three times a year mayyybe, so I am not the best person to ask about movies. But okay, I'll give it a try. Because I do love movies like A Walk to Remember and Geek Charming and The Hunger Games and sometimes books make really good movies. Also, I only have six books because of whatever.

1. The List

Siobhan Vivian

It's sad, but I'm pretty sure the only way this would make it to any sort of screen is if Lifetime decided to make it into a totally salacious "teenage girl problems" movie. Which is, like I said, sad. But that aside, the many different characters and POVs here would be a great fit for a movie along the lines of He's Just Not That Into You. Except, you know, different.

2. Jessie <3 NYC

Keris Stainton

This was the first book I thought of for this topic because even in my review I mentioned how I wished this book were a movie. The characters, storyline, and little surprises along the way are the sort of things that work so great in movies. YOU HEAR ME, MOVIE PEOPLE? Make it happen.

3. Jenna & Jonah's Fauxmance

Emily Franklin & Brendan Halpin

How meta would a movie about teen starlets in a fake romance be? SO META. And also, pretty awesome.

4. The Mockingbirds

Daisy Whitney

There's something about this book -- the subject matter, the well-drawn characters, the underground justice system, that I would love to see on screen. It's got the right mix of interesting, unexpected, and tried-and-true to be a really awesome, if slightly understated, movie. 

5. Two-Way Street

Lauren Barnholdt

This one came out five years ago, so it's probably not exactly on your radar, but from what I remember it definitely should be. Exes on a road trip together, on the way to the same college? Unresolved feelings and too much ambiguity? I love this book and I want it to be a movie that I will also love. 

6. Cheating At Solitaire

Ally Carter

This is another older book (it came out in 2005 and isn't even YA), and is one of the few straight-up "chick lit" (ugh, can't we rename that genre?) that I've flat-out loved. The love story is meet-cute perfect for a movie.