Graceling - Kristin Cashore

“I'm not going to wear a red dress," she said."It would look stunning, My Lady," she called." She spoke to the bubbles gathered on the surface of the water. "If there's anyone I wish to stun at dinner, I'll hit him in the face.

 I was barely about fifty pages into Graceling when I knew I was going to read the entire series. I loved everything about it. The writing style, the main characters Katsa and the little I knew about the story. By the end I had learned to love the rest of the characters, despise the villain and I definitely wanted to know more about that world.

Katsa is a Graceling, which means she has been 'graced' with a special power. Although at the beginning of the story we find her regarding her grace, the ability to kill anything and anyone, as more of a curse than a gift. She is forced to lend her abilities to the whims of the King, her uncle, who uses her has as his personal thug to enforce his will upon his subjects. Until one day she decides she's had enough.

This is barely scratching the surface. There is the secret Council that Katsa started, which is a network of people around the Seven Kingdoms, who help the helpless and right all sorts of wrongs. The council was one of my favourite things about the story.
Then there are all the other wonderful characters. Po, with this kindness and humility, and Bitterblue with her stern and quiet wisdom. And Raffin and Bann who are sooo gay for each other. And Captain Faun. And Oll.

But most of all Katsa. She's going to join my realm of beloved ass-kicking heroines, with Buffy and Katherine Tremontaine and Sam Carter and Starbuck...
Although I have to say, in a fight with any of them, she'd come up on top, no contest. She's basically invincible. And aside from her impulsiveness and her temper, she's kinda flawless. Which in someone else's hands could make for a boring character. But Katsa is the opposite of boring. Because she is quite vulnerable when it comes to love and because she keeps facing extreme challenges in order to defend the people she cares about, and because...I don't know, because she's awesome.
In a way, she's a stereotypical female action hero, because she despises everything "feminine" and has vowed never to marry or have children, but I have no problems with that. I am open to all sorts of female heroes. Those who like dresses and balls and drama like Katherine, and those who want to stay single and let their hair flow in the wind as they ride through the glen firing arrows into the sunset, like Katsa (and Merida). Also I love that she gets to represent those women who never felt the need for children but are made to feel unnatural because of that. Katsa is lucky because she has the luxury to choose her own freedom over the bondages of marriage, but she also lives in a fundamentally patriarchal society, so her choices are defined by that. She doesn't think she can have a relationship that won't limit her freedom, until she meets Po who show her that she can have both. But I am glad that she hasn't changed her mind about having children, or about getting married.
And how awesome is it that she starts teaching women to defend themselves. So awesome.

I have just started Fire and I am already missing Katsa and Po and Bitterblue, but hopefully I'll warm up to the new characters soon enough.

Lair of Dreams - Libba Bray

I’m so glad this was a New York Times # 1 best seller. Mostly because it’s the sequel of one of my favourite books I’ve listened this year. But also because there is so much diversity, it might explode.

See what I did there

The Diviners’ strength was in its tight plot, its charming characters and its 1920s New York allures. The sequel, Lair of Dreams, seems to have a less tight plot at first, because there is so much going on, and not all is part of the main story. There is an underlining arc that continues from the first book which doesn’t resolve here, so I’m expecting at least a third instalment for that to unravel. And if at first I thought I wasn’t going to love it as much as the Diviners, I ended up doing just so.

I loved how the book’s attention stretched onto other characters. Evie is not the main ‘diviner’ anymore. I absolutely adore Evie and loved every second we spend with her, but I was happy to get to know Henry more. I didn’t realise how much of a charmer he really is. I adore him too. And I love Ling. I looooveeeee her. She’s snarky and smart and she’s into science and stuff. She’s also half Chinese, half Irish. And she also has infantile paralysis so she’s disabled. And she’s also kinda gay.

                                                                  

 Oh, and she’s also a dream-walker, like Henry, so she’s one of the gang now.  

Then there’s Theta, who is still super cool and beautiful and in love with Memphis, but I wish the two of them had more screen-time. Or at least I wish Theta had. I love her and she needs a better storyline. Anyway, her relationship with Memphis is another tick on the diversity box as Memphis is black and in the ‘20s it was still a big no-no.

Then there’s Henry who is totally gay for Louis, who is a boy, so let’s tick another box. Their romance is so painful and real and so heart-breaking and just

                                             

And then there’s the underlining theme of the constant racism our characters have to face on a daily basis. How the Chinese and the Irish and the Italians are made to feel foreign in their own homes. There are mentions of the KKK and the Chinese Exclusion Act. Of the hardships their parents and grandparents had to face to arrive to America, only to be faced with hatred and abuse when they arrived there.  

It deals with politics, eugenics, science. With homophobia and xenophobia and classism. But also with love and loss and shattered dreams and pain.

I love that there’s a diviner gang now. I hope they gang up more in the third book. And I don’t even care that it’s completely unlikely that so many diviners happen to be friends with one another. I choose to believe that it’s their powers that brought them together (which it might well be, who knows). Because at this stage we have Evie, Sam, Henry, Ling, Memphis and Theta, all divining away. Even Memphis’ brother. The only one who hasn’t been outed yet is Theta, but I figure it’s going to happen soon enough. (relatively speaking, we might have to wait another three years. Oh God.) Then there’s Jericho who is also kinda superhuman in his own way. The only poor normal sap is Mabel. I don’t know what to feel about her, she doesn’t have much to do, aside from mooning over Jericho, who still moons over Evie, who moons over both Jericho and Sam.

Which brings me to one of my main point of interest in the book. The Shipping.

                                  

There has been some major shipping going on, of the boy/girl kind. MAJOR. I mean, I already shipped Evie and Sam in the first book. Instinctively, I felt they had a lot of chemistry and I did not see the Jericho factor at all. There was no build-up to it. But this time, oh boy. Libba used an all-time favourite trope of mine, the fake-couple. In this case fake-engaged, instead of fake-married, but it works just as well. Top it up with tons of chemistry and brilliant banter and secret flips of the stomachs that MUSTN’T happen but do happen because the heart can’t listen to reason, and there you have it, perfect shipping material. Not to mention the fact that they’re made for each other. I just wish we didn’t have to deal with a love triangle. I fucking hate love triangles. I hope Jericho really falls for Mabel and that’ll be the end of it. This sequel definitely seemed to steer in this direction anyway, although it threw in some good ol’ angst between Sam and Evie for good measure. So we’re left with oozes of UST and Angst but no resolution. Which is fair enough, as it’s only the second book. But please let them be endgame. I ship them so hard, you guys.

                                         

I haven’t even mentioned the main plot yet. And the main villain. Which turns out to be really spooky. Not as flat out scary as Naughty John. This one was more layered with emotions, but still creepy as hell. There really was a terrible death. So, so terrible. I can’t even think about it, it’s the true stuff of nightmares. And then there are more terrible deaths, and people disappearing in the tunnels, and there are more ghosts and sleeping sickness and creepy dreams… I didn’t realise how scary the story was until I listened to it at night. I realised I had skipped some parts so I went back to it, so happy to have another hour or so still left. But I made the mistake of going to bed first. Do not make the same mistake. I started being scared of the dark, of creepy veiled women with a music box lurking in the shadows, telling me to dream with them with their demonic voice. Of smiling ghosts with sharp teeth running after me.

Just don’t read or listen to this after dark. You’ll be fine.

Now I only need to sit tight and wait for the next book. I need to know about Project Buffalo, about the mysterious men stalking the museum, about Will and Sister Walker’s secret mission, about Sam’s mother, about those cards in that office and what they mean, about Blind fucking Bill and when he’s going to be found out and stopped, about the man in the Stove Pipe Hat and about the eye with the lightning strike over it.

And I need to know if Sam and Evie get their shit together.

And I also want a new boyfriend for Henry and a girlfriend for Ling. 

The Diviners by Libba Bray - Narrated by January Lavoy

Another audiobook hit. I don’t know what made me pick this one out the rest. It has never even been in my wish list. I had read a couple of Libba Bray’s books before, which I was moderately enjoying until it was revealed that my favourite character was actually the big villain of the piece, and that put me off reading the rest of the series.
 The Diviners, on the other hand, was a completely different matter. I could not stop listening.
It ticked so many personal boxes: New York, historical setting , female lead (although it took me a while to warm up to her), intriguing side stories and characters, supernatural & superpowers… Because of the main characters’ dynamics and the fact that it has a supernatural /horror theme, it had a very Buffy-esque feel to it, which only added to my appreciation. I am not a sucker for murder mysteries in general, but this one wasn’t a true mystery. We know who did it, it’s our characters who need to find out, so it’s more of a murder investigation, with supernatural twists. We like.
Evie O’Neill, the MC, was hardly a love at first listen for me. She seemed exactly the kind of girl I’d avoid as a teenager. Attention-seeker, party-goer, that kind. But as the story goes along, I learned to like her for her humour and sharp wit, and later even admire her for her courage. I did NOT approve though, of her choices in love interests. Not because they’re wrong (although, *romantic spoiler ahead* it was indeed a shitty thing to do to your best friend) but because I was shipping her hard with another person. I still have hopes for the next books though.
 And then there’s the narrator, January Lavoy. She was brilliant. Her tone was pleasant, her pace perfect, she did all the voices differently, so you always knew who was speaking (OK, some of the male voices sounded the same, but you’d still know they were male at least), and the scary voices were REALLY scary. It would have been a perfect R.I.P. challenge read.
The sequel can’t come out soon enough.

Every Day by David Levithan - Narrated by Alex McKenna

I was hooked from the first minute. It was the combination of an intriguing premise and the pleasant sound of Alex McKenna’s voice. She has this low, husky tone with a gentle and musical accent, which was very easy and pleasant to follow. Sometimes people tell me the reason they wouldn’t be into audiobooks is because they would find it hard to follow, that their attention would wander. I thought so too, but I found that as long as the reader doesn’t go too fast (and that I like the voice, of course) that problem doesn’t occur. Needless to say, I never had that problem with Alex.
The story follows A as he/she tries to lead a normal life when everything about her/his/its (hir?) life isn’t. A changes bodies every day, never having owned their own (yeah, I’ll go with their, although I thought of A as 'she' while listening). I find this concept mindboggling. How does one define themselves without not just a body, but a life and an identity that never change. A family, a history that belongs to you. Without friends that know the real you, not the person you’re inhabiting. None of this is part of A’s life. A has to adjust to their body and life changing every day without having any control over it. It sounds like the stuff of nightmare, but A has decided, now at the age of 16, to accept it and go with the flow, to live in the present and not worry about it too much. Until A meets Rhiannon and falls in love with her.
 Now, I can’t tell much more without giving it away, but let me tell you it kept me hooked till the very end. It’s not a perfect book by any means, but I loved it all the same. It explores many issues: body image, identity, morality, sexuality, love. Especially love. We like to say that it’s what’s inside that matters. That the physical part is not as important as one’s personality, one’s “soul”. But do we really mean it? How much of our love or infatuation is based on appearances, on the physical aspect of it? I am not ashamed to say that for me the physical side is very important. I fall in love with the person as a whole, I love their personality and mind as much as their bodies. But with A you can only get one immutable aspect of the package. The rest is up to fate. Loving A would mean loving a ‘conscience’ but not a ‘person’, at least not in the way we’re used to. For this reason, and for many others (lack of lasting relationships, including the love of one’s family, for one) my heart ached for A. It still does, if I think about it. I read some reviews where people were outraged by A’s behaviour. They resented them the way they “used” their bodies, for their own purposes. I would agree with this view if A had any choice in the matter. If A had a body to return to and used their powers to do as they please, while hijacking other people’s lives, but that’s not the case. A has NO body, NO life of their own. What are they supposed to do, surrender to their fate and pretend to be someone else their whole life? Be completely selfless and devote their life to be as invisible and innocuous as possible? Just passing through, pretending they don’t exist? It seems cruel, to ask this of someone’s life. It’s easy to accuse but what would you do, especially if you fell in love? And remember, A is only 16.
 In any case, whether you'd love the book or not, it'd still be worth reading (or listening!), even if just to boggle your mind for a while.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children & Hollow Ciity by Ransom Riggs

I did not expect to like this book (and its sequel) as much as I did. Somehow I had it in my head that it was all about the photographs and that it was a story about freaks, and I'm not into freak shows and all that, they give me the heebeegeebees. But I figure it would have been a perfect read for R.I.P. so there we are. As it turns out, it wasn't just about the photographs and the "freaks" were adorable and I loved them all, individually and as a group.

The first book is, I dare say, perfect. It builts up nicely at the start, then it throws you into another world and you get to know the characters and why they are there, and there's even a sprinkle of romance, which is always good, and then there's Miss Peregrine and she's so much like McGonagall I wanted to squee. My favourite of the children had to be Bronwyn. She is lovely and motherly and cool. But it's true that I loved all of them and I was so afraid some of them were going to die.

I need to express my excitement now so if you don't want any spoilers skip the next paragraph:

There was time travel (!) and time loops (!) and that's already two of my favourite tropes in the history of tropes.

There were some things I wasn't too clear about, like for example, how come the children kept feeling like children after all those years. But I just went with it.

End of spoiler

 And when it was over I was like hell no, I'm not going to start another book, Imma download the sequel right now. And I did. I'm starting to love this ebook business.

And the sequel was also great fun, because it had all the characters I loved and there was adventure

and ass-kicking and new photographs (although these were less believable, especially as they were meant to be taken when it would have been impossible for them to take photos, or at least very unlikely), some more romance and I love how Emma kept being the leader of the group, because I love Emma. And the animals were cool and the enemies were scary and I really just wanted them to have Miss Peregrine back, but I had a nudging feeling that it could all go so very wrong. And then it does and I was like shiiiiiiit but also damn they should have thought of that possibility at least and now they're kinda screwed, except that the ending gave some sort of hope, even though they're still pretty screwed.

Now I need the third. Now, like.

Black Maria - Diana Wynne Jones

I like happy endings. And I asked Chris why something should be truer just because it's unhappy. He couldn't answer.

I’ve learned to always expect the unexpected with Diana Wynne Jones. Her stories are highly originally and she obviously had plot bunnies coming out of her ears. I can’t say I’m an expert on the Wynne Jones, this is only my second book of hers, but I plan to become one, if all her books are as fun as this.

Black Maria is mostly a story about power, about ancient rules and feuds and treachery, in a remote village on the coast of England (I’m assuming).  When their father dies, Mig, Chris and their mother are forced to spend their Easter holidays with their annoying Aunt Maria. The three of them find themselves slaving away to accommodate the old woman’s needs, while the other Mrs  of the village keep court in her leaving room every afternoon.

It’s the stuff of nightmares for the kids who were looking forward to some holiday fun. But their fears take a different meaning when things start being not just boring, but REALLY weird. For starters, there’s a ghost in Chris’s bedroom. Then there’s them kids in the orphanage who look like clones. The men who look like zombies. And a cat who looks like an old lady. There’s definitely something dodgy about the whole thing. It’s only a matter of time until things start to get out of hands and action needs to be taken.

I admit it started off slow. I had no idea where she was going with this, but I liked the narrator’s voice, a girl of undisclosed age, I'm guessing 12 or 13, who is certain she is going to write Famous Books one day and practises daily on her journal. I also liked her snarky brother and even more so their mother. I liked the mother from the start, even though she’s not a prominent character until much later (at this point I should just admit I have a thing for mothers and get it over with), but this one was particularly adorable, especially through the eyes of her daughter.  Without giving too much away, I can say that this is not your typical kids fantasy adventure, where the parents take a background role. This is full-on mothers/daughters action and I loved it for that.

There are mysteries to solve, brothers to save and time travels to be had. And there’s that mother/daughter bonding through ass-kicking that was totally awesome.

It wasn’t a perfect book. There were some bits that left me confused, especially the kids’ relationship with their father. And I had hoped for a slightly different ending concerning Aunt Maria.  But other than that, it was just pure great fun, and I look forward to more of the same with her other books.

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender - Leslye Walton

This is a story about a lot of things and a lot of people. But mainly it’s about a strange family and its women. About Ava and her speckled wings, her mother Viviane with her extraordinary sense of smell and her certainty about who the love of her life is, and about Ava’s grandmother Emilienne with her broken heart, her ghosts and her way of looking at things closer than other people. It’s mostly about Love and all the different ways it takes shape. But it’s about so much more.

Its beauty and charm rely as much on the characters - all with their unique stories and all worthy of your attention – as on its style. It reminded me of Isabelle Allende’s books. I drank them in my teen years, so I guess marketing this for YA isn’t such a strange idea when you think about it (although it really wasn’t originally, the publishing market works in mysterious ways). So, yes, the style is lyrical and poetic and SouthAmericanish, except it’s set first in New York and then in a small town near Seattle throughout the 1900s and '50s (I think. I lost track of time after a certain point) There’s a lot of that magic realism found in Allende’s and Marquez’s novels, but it’s more of a feel than anything else. This book stands on its own feet. Many strange, unexplained things happen and it would be fascinating to analyse their meaning, their symbols and metaphors, especially Ava’s wings, But I for one just enjoyed reading the story as it is, sympathizing with its characters (my favourite is probably Viviane, although I did love all the women in the book. So. Many. Women. And Gabe. I loved Gabe.), reading about their troubles and sorrows and worrying about whether they will ever find happiness.

Leslye Walton has just acquired the “author that makes me want to read everything they have ever written” status for me. Thing is, I will have to wait because this was her first book. Bummer. As soon as I finished it, I wanted to go back and read it again. And this doesn’t happen often. If I had to find a negative criticism would be that it was over too soon. I had only just started getting to know the characters and then it was time to say goodbye already? I needed way more time with this story. A lot more time.

Oh and it could be have been gayer (was I the only one who had high hopes for Emilienne and Whilelmina? Was that true subtext or am I imagining things)

Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell

Oh Rainbow… you don’t just have a fabulous name. You also write the kind of books that make *me* want to write. I did not expect this, especially after loving Eleanor & Park so much. I loved the book and I adored the characters, but I could hardly identify with them. At least not as deeply as I did with Cath.

Fangirl is basically a book about Tumblr people. I feel like it belongs to the whole community and indeed it has been appropriately chosen as Tumblr’s first bookclub read. In a way, it manages to condense in one single character so many young women (and boys? Probably boys too but not as visibly) who are struggling with their awkward self, with anxiety and self-acceptance, with not fitting in and feeling different from anyone else. Young women who are (sometimes quietly, sometimes less so) proud nerds and enthusiastic fans of certain TV shows or books or celebrities, and feed their passion with endless rewatches/re-reads, cosplays, gif/graphic making, comic-cons, and of course, fanfiction writing. 

Also, a lot of this.

 I’m amazed at the amount of people who don’t know what fanfiction is. It’s just something that I’ve always been aware of. At least I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know what it was. Even before ever reading one, I’ve always liked to imagine different or longer endings for movies, alternative situations for TV shows, and of course, better and more satisfying scenes for my “ship” (the two people I want to be together, in layman’s terms). So, when I first came across fanfiction, I must have regarded it as a natural product of fangirling, which I’ve always done. I’m terrible at writing it myself. I tend to just imagine situations where I’m in the show/book, interacting with the characters, normally ending up making out with one. Basically the kind of thing that’s shunned by the fanfiction communities. So I just read it, every now and then. I’m not a regular fic reader, but I do like to look for one, when I’m in need of something that the show (let’s just be honest, it’s mostly a TV show thing, for me) can’t give me. Mostly crackships, like Magnacarter (Sam Carter and Helen Magnus) which you probably wouldn’t think would be a perfect pair, on account of them being played by the same actress, but you’d be WRONG. Wrong, wrong, wrong. They’re made for each other. You just need to look harder. But also regular ships, like the mighty painful Sam/Jack (Jam) from SG-1. Since the writers forgot to give us a proper onscreen resolution for these two poor souls, one needs fanfic to fill the hole and to sooth the pain caused byhardcore shipping.

So yeah, Cath is one of them. One of us. I felt like Rainbow nailed her character. I didn’t think she represented a stereotype. And even if she did, she used one that could be easily embraced and loved by a lot of young women. A lot.Cath is somehow special, though. She has the gift of storytelling. In her online world, she’s famous. She has fans of her own. People read her fics every day and regard her as their favourite writer. Not many people can say that. And yet, IRL, she’s painfully shy and awkward. She hates parties and drinking and would rather live off energy bars than venture into the dining hall of her new campus. Because Cath is a freshman and has to face the terrifying prospect of going through a whole academic year on her own, without her twin sister, who up until then, had been her inbuilt BFF. This being a YA story, things don’t stay the same for long. Slowly Cath starts making friends who are not her twin sister Wren (whom for most of the book behaves like a douche and whom I disliked wholeheartedly, but this being YA, she redeems herself at the end, which we liked) and even gets a boyfriend. The one I had been shipping her with from the start. Yay! Not the other useless, annoying, self-absorbed jerk (also, for the record “Second person is never the answer. Nothing good has ever been written in second person. Second person is for twenty-year-olds in creative writing classes who like beat poetry and have finger-mustache tattoos”©Raych) 

With Cath and her boyfriend (not gonna say who because slight spoilers but it’s pretty obvious) Rainbow throws another Eleanor & Park. Their romance is just as adorable and passionate and cute, and did I say adorable. The only thing that was slightly annoying was this whole Starbucks glorifying thing. What is it with Americans and Starbucks? Somehow it always manages to become this magic, mythified place where wonderful things happen. I don’t get it. I actually tried their much hyped Pumpkin Spice latte this year, just to see what the whole fuss was about, and it was disgusting. I couldn’t even finish it. The most expensive, undrinkable coffee I’ve ever bought. I know they can have (sometimes) nice coffee, but so do a lot of other cafes who are not multinational, anti-union, independent-cafes-killing machines. So that was my pet peeve. But it was quite pettish, as it didn’t stop me from ADORING thing book and going all  

Also, as I said at the beginning, it made me want to go back to writing. Which is something that happens on a regular basis, and it doesn’t mean it will last, but it’s a good feeling. Right now I’m not thinking that my writing sucks and that there’s no point in trying. I’m thinking that it can be good, and all I have to do is try.

So, yeah, I really really liked it. I loved the humour, I loved how it’s written as if Cath was writing it in her head instead of just narrating. I LOVED Reagan, but I loved Cath’s dad even more. I mean, how can you not love a dad who says stuff like  “Honey, I’ve watched a lot of 90210. The parents weren’t even on the show once Brandon and Brenda went to college. This is your time – you’re supposed to be going to frat parties and getting back with Dylan”.  I loved that they kept referencing Battlestar Galactica even though I haven’t seen it yet. I loved that the mother wasn’t just simply redeemed at the end, because NO. And finally, I loved the whole Simon Snow idea, and even thought that it could be even better than Harry Potter and that I’d love to read it (but I’d like to read Carry on, Simon more so I think Rainbow should publish it somehow as a sort of extra feature for the book. Just a thought). 

Basically, I loved it. Rainbow Rowell has officially ascended to the “Authors I would read anything they’ve ever written” list.

The new policeman - Kate Thompson

Yet another one of those books that have been waiting on the shelf for years and that I enjoyed more than I expected I would. I wasn’t even sure what it was about, just that once someone told me it was good. And yet, the right time for it only came now. I devoured this in less than two days. It was that good. It’s also about everything I love. Ireland, for starters. It’s set in a delightful little village I’ve visited more than once, in county Galway. It’s about traditional Irish music, and even though I’m not the biggest fan of trad, or diddly aye as my friends from the wesht call it, I do enjoy a session every now and then. It really shows the true heart of Ireland. And finally, it’s about magic, folklore and mythology. About the Tuatha de Danann and the great Irish heroes of the old sagas.Only, not like you’ve read them before.
Life in Kinvara seems to go as usual, except it isn’t. Time is slipping away too fast and people never seem to have enough of it. There is a new policeman in town, but he’s not so sure he’s right for the job and he’d rather play his fiddle in the pub than investigate crimes. Then there’s 15-year-old JJ Liddy who bears his mother’s family name with pride (The Liddys have been for their music and their ceili for years), until one day his friend tells him his great-grandfather murdered a priest, and he’s not sure about being a Liddy anymore. He doesn’t know anything about his family’s past and now his mother realises it’s time to tell him the truth. But soon JJ realises there’s more at stake than his family pride. His determination to buy more time for his mother, as she asked for her birthday present, brings him to the edge of reality in a quest to fix time and fulfil his mother’s wishes.
This was a multi-layered story that was satisfying on many levels. It was filled with humour, with characters instantly easy to love, with an almost tangible love for music and for dancing and for communal traditions carried forward for generations with love and pride. And then there was a not-so-subtle criticism towards the present times, or the present at the time of the novel, when Ireland was at the height of its economic boom, which happened so sudden and so fast that it had earned the name Celtic tiger. No one had time for anything anymore, except making money, buying houses and cars and climbing the career ladder. This was not a huge part of the story but it did linger there, understated, until the ending, when it becomes more obvious.
 But what I loved the most was the new take on the Irish “Gods”. I especially loved Angus and the Dagda, and Bran the dog, and everything that had to do with them. I was slightly concerned about JJ, because unlike him, I did remembered what happened to Oisin in the legends. But still, you don’t need to know too much about old Irish sagas to enjoy this. If anything, it’d make you want to read more about them. But even if this was the only book you’d ever read about them, I think it’d be a good one.
The ending was the cherry on the cake. You find out who the new policeman really is and even though I had an inkling, I hadn’t guessed the full story, and it’s brilliant!

The ocean at the end of the lane - Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman is not just one of my favourite authors. I look up to him. I agree with almost every he says about life and about reading, about art, about writing. I haven’t always enjoyed everything he’s written, but I’ve always taken a sort of comforting pleasure knowing that he exists and he’s still writing, still being a wonderful human being. And yet, I always approach his new works (as I do any other work by a beloved author) with a certain degree of caution. I suppose it’s the fear of being disappointed, of having to admit that, even though you love the man, you didn’t love the book. Or that you did like it, but weren’t blown away by it like you wanted to. In Neil Gaiman's case, anything short of that, would be a slight disappointment  I’m so glad to say that this wasn’t the case.[ warning: slight spoilers ahead]
 It started out quite slow for me. Well, slow for the first 3 or 4 pages. But remember, expectations! Then it got interesting and gripping, but still not completely AMAZING, and so it stayed until almost half way through it. I was prepared to give it 4 stars on my Librarything, which is the rating I give to books I enjoyed quite a lot, but had just a tiny bit of awesome missing. Then I kept reading and Lettie Hempstock saves our young narrator’s ass one more time, but this time it’s a lot more impressive and I’m like OK this is definitely a 4.5 stars at least! And then all of a sudden the awesome button was switched on, and I was swept away by it. I’m not sure when it happened. It could have been when our little one is plunged into the ocean pond and is filled with the knowledge of the universe and of all things. Or when the Hempstocks work the snip and cut magic on the narrator’s father. Or basically everything that happens until the epic finale. OLD MRS HEMPSTOCK, people. Oh my crackers, I didn’t expect to love her that much. But she totally had a serious case of Kicking Ass, what with all the glowing and the silver hair and the commanding voice and the baddies going all scaredy cats in front of her and going fuck this shit we’re out of here. It reminded me of my favourite moment of an anime I used to watch when I was little, about this group of travellers who went around medieval Japan and encountering all sorts of shenanigans, and at first the baddies always went ha ha you can’t stop us, you’re only a bunch of misfits losers, but then at the end the old man in the group always took out his Shogun symbol, a talisman or something, the theme music played and all the baddies went “oh shit, it’s the Shogun” and bowed in front of him. Except Old Mrs Hempstock is even better then the Shogun as the power is within her. We don’t know exactly who she is or how she came to be. Just like we don’t know how old or exactly who is Lettie or Ginnie. Old Mrs Hempstock claims to have been there when the moon was being made, and I tend to believe it’s true. But I like that we’re not told exactly who this wonderful family is. They could be called goddesses, a triad of powerful beings, that are essentially one single being represented in three forms, the maiden, the mother and the crone. But even to think of defining their identities feels like diminishing their power as characters. Their farm is as bit like Rivendell, the last homely house in the Lord of the Rings. Nothing bad can happen in it. Everything and everyone feels welcoming and safe and comforting. Food is always ready and is the most delicious food you can think of, there is always a full moon shining on your bedroom, and you don’t need to worry about anything. Outside, they still exude power, but they’re not invincible. At least, Lettie isn’t, even though the seven-year-old narrator would have trusted her to bring him safely out of hell. Which she does essentially, but at what cost…
 I loved the epilogue. I did wish we could have had another encounter with Lettie. I want to know if she’s really OK. I wanted to see her. But it’s probably more perfect this way. Melancholic like the beginning, but a little bit more hopeful. I agree with Ana that it felt like home, like knowing to be in safe, known territory. This is what I love and I can’t get enough of it. It also felt a lot like reading another author I love and whom I should read more, Charles de Lint. He’s also fond of powerful women with strange powers, or scary beings and wonderful otherworldly atmospheres.
Now that it’s over, I wish this isn’t the end for the Hempstock family. I need more of them. I want to read a whole series about them. And read their adventures on comic books and any other form. And why isn’t there more fanart out there?
 To conclude, I’d like to point you out to this post about the female representation in the book. It’s really quite good.

Eleanor & Park - Rainbow Rowell

So I read Eleanor & Park because all the cool kids are reading it. Bookwormy, nerdy, Internet  cool kids, obviously. It’s all over the interweb, you couldn’t miss it even if you tried. Also, John Green is a fan. Him and the whole Internet. But anyway, I read it and 

Damn you book, why?

Everything about this book is precious (OK, except the ending, or everything that leads up to the ending, because WTF happens AFTER the end? Is it like one of those ending where you get to decide? Can I decide? Well, I’d scrap the last few pages and rewrite the whole thing. But if can’t do that, I’ll just write a proper epilogue where it ends like I want it to end, OK?)

So, yes, everything is precious. Eleanor and Park are the absolute adorbz. With all their nerdy love and their music and their comics and their shyness and insecurities and the whole I-can’t-breathe-when-you’re-away-so-it-feels-like-I’m-always-holding-my-breath-all-the-time thing and the I-don’t-like-you-I-need-you thing and their Star Wars references and basically EVERYTHING.

Some parts were painful to read, but mostly  it was a constant source of feels. Good feels. Lots and lots of good feels.Until the thing happens. Yeah, there’s always A THING that happens. It’s not as gut-wrenching as The Thing in Code Name Verity but it’s still pretty awful, and unexpected because eww and nope. I didn’t realise this person could get even more horrible than he was already. I was actually almost hoping he would turn up not to be this horrible, but no such luck. My only problem with the book is Eleanor’s mother. How can she even look at her daughter without slapping herself. I am aware that awful persons exist, and that’s Richie’s role. I get that. But people who on paper aren’t awful but put up with awful people and get their children hurt in the process? How is that a thing?

And then, on the opposite side of the spectrum, you have Park’s parents. They aren’t perfect, but they’re pretty awesome. Especially Park’s dad towards the end. I did love him a lot. First he throws a fit about Park’s eyeliner and soon after, when they’re getting ready to go to some boat show, he hurries his son up saying “Come on, Park, get dressed and put your makeup on”. How can you not love him.

So yeah, Eleanor and Park are the cute, but also smart and sarcastic and both beautiful in their own unique, special way, and they’re so perfect on their own but even more so when they’re together. The writing is up there with John Green’s standards, but it also has its own personal flavour which I loved. The secondary characters were brilliant too, even though I didn’t get some of them. And then the ending was asdfghjjksdffggh SHIT NO WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO THEM, keeping with the tradition of great books that will break your heart, stomp on it, and then eat it for breakfast.

But the cover. Can we talk about the cover for just a minute? I know there are different covers out there, but I had to deal with this one. I do like it as its own piece of art. It’s really pretty and definitely my style, I’m not discussing its artistic merits. My problem is its depiction of the two characters. Anyone, ANYONE, who has read the book would know that it’s not them. For starters, when has Park ever gone on a skateboard? If he has, the author has kept it from us. And then for the biggest culprit, the girl who is supposed to be Eleanor. Straight hair and super skinny? 

But at least it’s pretty, right?

So, anyway, if you don’t know what else to read after The Fault in Our Stars and want to be punched in the feels with more cute romance than you can possibly handle, go for it. You can shake the fist at me later.

Code Name Verity - Elizabeth Wein

What can I say about this book that hasn’t been said already? Only my experience of it, my reaction, which is much the same as everyone else who has read it. First utter horror at the barbaric methods of interrogation by the Gestapo, then the growing feelings of affection toward the characters, for both Maddie, woman pilot extraordinaire and her friend, the first narrator, who is confessing everything to her capturers to avoid being tortured again. She was supposed to be a Special Ops agent, undercover in occupied France, sent to do some special operation that Special Ops agents do. But being British (not English! Scottish) she crossed the road and looked the wrong way, almost getting killed by a van in the process. So she’s captured and detained in the Gestapo HQ for information. But she doesn’t just confess. She writes everything down like a memoir, that buys her time and also kind of makes her feel better, by remembering the good times with her best friend Maddie. So this is the first part. Then comes the second part, told by Maddie and you’re like hold on a second… really? Whoah, this is brilliant, lemme go back and check on that thing again. It keeps being brilliant like this until THAT AWFUL THING happens and then you’re like no that can’t be this is a trick it’s not real these things don’t happen at the end of YA books they just don’t. But then you keep reading and bloody hell, it did happen. Damn you Elizabeth Wein *shakes fist at author* how could you do this to me after everything we’ve been through. It’s just not fair.  It was quite romantic though, in a tragic, movie-like kinda way, but I would have been happier without it, thank you very much. So, yeah, you should read it if you haven’t yet, because it’s clever and original and brilliant and the main characters are two kick-ass BAMF with a beautiful sisromance kinda bond but keep in mind that they’re gonna get your heart broken so hold on to it, until THAT THING happens.

Paper Towns by John Green

As much as I enjoyed reading Paper Towns, the first impression I got was that it    was too similar to Looking for Alaska.
Boy falls for extraordinary girl - Girl disappears - Boy looks for girl.
High school setting (but that's obvious as it's about teenagers).
Amazing secondary characters (no complains there).
Puzzle to solve.
Significant literary reference (The General in his labyrinth for Looking for Alaska; Leaves of Grass for Paper Towns).
But after a while, it develops into its own story and there's nothing else to do but sit back and enjoy the ride. Especially the one towards to the end, when the whole group embarks into a hilarious highway race against time. Probably my favourite part in the book.
It's not simply the story and the writing that make John Green's books unique and addictive. It's also the amount of details and creativity that goes into the creation of his characters. You can tell he's had a lot of fun writing them. How can you not have fun when you're making up stuff like a completely drunk teenage who makes a beer sword out of empty cans and then superglues it on his hand so that nobody can take it from him.
It's the little details that makes his books stand out from the rest. It makes you wish these people were in your life when you were a teenager. Even Margo, the girl Q is looking for. The real one, not the idealised Margo. Like Alaska, she's a hurricane, but she's also a human being, and eventually that's what Q needs to realise.

As for me, I still want to read everything that John Green has written.

Some speedy reviews

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
(<---by the way this cover here is not OK. What's up with Adam's face? Ugh).

With two writers as Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, there was really little chance I wouldn't like this. And yet, at first, I struggled a bit. There are so many story-lines and characters that it's hard to love it at first sight. I liked almost every one of them, but there wasn't time to get acquainted with one that you had to leave it and start with another. It gets better when you begin to know the characters. It's easier to leave them and follow others. But even then, I was always looking forward to spending more time with Adam and the Them. He's the kid who's supposed to bring forth the Armageddon, and the Them are his gang. But Adam, even with his powers, and being the Antichrist and all, is really hard to fear. I loved him to bits, him and his friends. Second close comes Anathema Device, because she's a witch and she reminds me a bit of Tiffany Aching. Then there's the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley, who are supposed to be mortal enemies, but get along better than they would ever admit. They also should facilitate the Armageddon, but none of them is keen on the idea of the world ending.

But most of all I loved to know I was in safe hands. There's nothing more comforting than that. Whatever happens, you're going to enjoy it, because it's Terry Pratchett and because it's Neil Gaiman and that's that. So I did. I laughed and I giggled and I was sorry when it ended, just like with every good book, although the ending was absolutely perfect, and probably my favourite part of the story.
Now I'm looking ever more forward to what that photo promises. How long do we have to wait?


About a boy by Nick Hornby
Again with the comforting here. It's Nick Hornby, I won't be disappointed. At least, it hasn't happened yet, so don't start listing all his worst books now, OK?
Anywho, this was brilliant and I wanted to hug it and the characters lots. Especially Marcus, the boy of the title. For those who never heard of this book, it's about a boy, (!), who is too grown up for his age and sticks out a lot. It's also about this other guy, Will, who hasn't grown up at all and still feels like a teenager. In a way they complement each other but they take a while to realise that. The funny bit is that I identify with both, at different times. It's easy to identify with Marcus, the outsider, generous, bullied kid. With Will was different. He's shallow at first, with no real purpose in life except to just get on with it. But I could sympathise with him when people criticised his seemingly aimless life. Since he doesn't have a job and doesn't have a family, people fail to see what use his life is. Sometimes, being unemployed I feel in a similar situation. I know I'll have to get a job, but even though I tell people I don't do anything, I do lots of things. Things I enjoy, but that I'm not paid for :P I'm great at filling my life with these little things, and if I could keep doing them for the rest of my life, I'd be happy. But for some people, it still looks like I don't do anything.
But anyway, the similarities with Will end here. He's a bit of a wanker to be honest, and even Marcus doesn't understand why he keeps going back to him. But he does, and their relationship gets stronger and stronger, until even Will starts seeing that Marcus is good for him. And how couldn't he? He's ADORABLE. And wise, and kindhearted and everything that's good in the world.
I can see this book making the top list of best books I have read at the end of the year :)

Gifts by Ursula Le Guin

This one was a slow burner. For a while I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it, because the introductory part seems to go on forever. Nothing much happens for a long time as we're introduced to the world and powers of the Domains. But sure enough, almost without realising it, I found myself caring deeply for its main characters and enjoying the time I spent with them. It definitely isn't an action-packed story, but aside from the start I can't say it's slow either. It's definitely unusual. Intimate. And ultimately very powerful. I couldn't expect anything else from Ursula Le Guin.

The story take places in the imaginary rural Uplands where its communities are plagued by perpetual feuds and where each lineage has a particular power called gift. The story is told by Orrec, a teenage boy whose lineage possesses the power to undo, to destroy. But Orrec's gift only manifests itself wildly, and since it can't be controlled his father is forced to blindfold him, so not to harm anyone accidentally. Orrec's dear friend is Gry, a girl who has the gift to call animals. Traditionally this gift is used to call animals to the hunt, but Gry refuses to do so, putting her in a similar situation as Orrec's. They both struggle to be accepted and to find a suitable role in their rural society. Their relationship is beautifully portraited. You can feel their strong bond any time they're together, in very gesture and word. I really liked the two of them together. I also liked Orrec's mother, Melle. She's an outsider, a lowlander, and all her life she struggles to understand the ways of her husband's people, never fully grasping the meaning of the gifts and their importance. She's the only one in the Uplands to know the beauty of the written word which she teaches to both her son and Gry. Her love for storytelling is her gift to Orrec, and one that he treasures more than anything, his only moments of light in his blind dark years.
It was a wonderful book, one that shows its beauty little by little and will stay with you for a long while.

Nerds Heart YA: Shine, Coconut Moon VS Skunk Girl

And here we are again for a second year of Nerds Heart YA. I'm judging the first round again. The books I have read are

• Shine, Coconut Moon by Neesha Meminger

and

• Skunk Girl by Sheba Karim

Shine, Coconut Moon by Neesha Meminger

The Summary
Samar is a seventeen-year-old girl living in Linton, New Jersey. Her family is of Indian origins but her mother, who brought her up as a single parent, has always tried to keep her away from her heritage and her grandparents. She's taught Samar to feel like an American, rather than Indian, with the same rights and freedoms of any other citizen, regardless of her ethnicity, but her mother's intentions to save Samar from the restrictions that she had to endure as a child are turning her into a coconut: brown on the outside and white on the inside.
An unexpected reunion with uncle Sandeep, whom Samar had never met, soon after the 9/11 attacks, ignites Samar's need to reconnect with her heritage and find out more about herself.

What I liked:
I thought the idea of linking the typical teenager's need of self-discovery to the exploration of one's cultural identity was a great idea. When Samar says: I couldn't feel more different. I feel like the epitome of different - from everyone. I feel like there's no one else like me on this whole planet she's channeling, unknowingly, the spirit of being a teenager. In her case it's symbolised by her new-found origins. But I challenge anyone to raise their hand and say they haven't felt this way at 17.
The 9/11 setting added some edginess, some uncomfortable moments, which at first they felt a bit deliberate but they all came together in the end.
Of course, I loved learning about Sikh culture, of which I know little about. Especially what it is like for a Sikh to live away from the homeland and still carry on the faith. Just as much as I was interested in reading about being a Muslim in Does my head look big in this? I enjoyed the parts which dealt with the rituals and the traditions of the Sikh.
Regarding the characters,I must say I loved uncle Sandeep. He's the sweetest, most likeable character, always ready to help, to talk, to hug. Although he's a bit too willing to please Samar and do whatever she asks him to do. Also, for all her faults, I thought Samar's mother was an example of an independent spirit, a women who rebelled and tried to instill the same spirit into her daughter, with unexpected results. I couldn't not like her.

What I didn't like:
Unfortunately I found Samar's character to be flat and occasionally annoying. Aside from her journey of self-discovery, there wasn't anything that made her stand out as a person. Was that the point? That she needed to find her true identity before developing a personality? I don't know, but aside from being a rebelling teenager, which is normal, I couldn't find any special likable qualities about her. At some point I even thought she was taking her anger against her mother a bit too far and I ended up siding with her mother. Am I getting too old?
Actually all the teenager characters were sort of bland, bordering toward boring, which was a little disappointing.

Skunk Girl by Sheba Karim

The Summary:
At 16-year-old, Nina Khan had two main things that plagued her life: the constant comparison to the super genius older sister and body hair.
She's also from a Pakistan family and one of the only brown kids in her school, which, as she puts, sucks.

It's not that I hate high school. It's just that I wish it would hurry up and end already.

A part from that, she's a normal teenager, who has friends, and would like to party and date like any other kid. But her family, unlike Samar's, is of the strict kind and won't allow Nina to mingle with boys. Things, of course, get harder for her, when a new kid, Asher Richelli, arrives in school and Nina falls for his Italian charm, like half of the female population in the school.

What I liked:
First of all, the writing was excellent. I loved Nina. She's smart, pessimistic and sarcastic, and completely lovable. You just want to squeeze her in a bear hug and tell her she's gorgeous. I also loved her friends, Bridget and Helena. Bridget seems to be the perfect Sagittarian: athletic but clumsy, and always blurting out whatever comes up in her head. Helena is the romantic, pretty type, always looking for the endless love, and always looking at the positive side of things. They are great counterparts for Nina's shy personality.
I also thought Nina's family was very likable. They are strict Muslims, but they visible love their daughter to bits. You can see it in her dad, especially, in his awkward attempts at bonding with Nina. So adorable. Also irresistible is his love for food, for Sufi mystical music, and for bear hugs.
All these great characters come to life thanks to Nina's hilarious sarcastic comments and humour. I frequently laughed out loud, while I kept my grin on almost all the time. And what can I do, books that make me laugh will always win my heart.
Like Shine, Cononut Moon, Skunk Girl is a journey of discovery. But unlike the other, this story is more about acceptance. As a teenager Nina feels restricted and repressed, but she also slowly comes to realise what a great gift it is to have a family who loves you and will care for you always.
Her parents are very similar to Samar's grandparents, and it'd be interesting to see how the two characters would fare if they could swap families. Nina would experience a greater freedom, but wouldn't be part of a bigger community of people sharing the same cultural background. Samar would understand what it meant for her mother to live under repressive rules, but would experience that comforting choral feeling of big family reunions. I think it would enrich both of them

What I didn't like:
Not much. I was a bit disappointed by the ending, but not completely. I knew it had to be that way, I just can't help wishing Nina would stand up to her parents just a bit more. Her religion seems to be imposed on her, as something she can't change, just accept, while I'd love for her to be free to experience teenage love without fearing her parent's fury. But I guess that's just how things are sometimes.
All in all, it was a great realistic insight into a Pakistani girl's life, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

So, decision time. I'd say you will have guessed by now, but let's make it official.
The book that will go to the next round is:

Skunk Girl!

Enna Burning - Shannon Hale

I won't even attempt to write a proper review as I've read this a while ago, but I did want to write down some impressions, because Shannon Hale is quickly becoming one of my newest favourite writers. I can't just mention this one briefly.
Returning to Bayern was like revisiting some old friends. True, I've only read The Goose Girl recently, so it hasn't been that long ago, but it was still comforting. The story though, wasn't. Also, it was a little hard to get into it at first. It didn't have the familiar beginning of a fairy tale like The Goose Girl had. It left Ani aside, to focus on Enna, who was one of the best secondary characters in the first book, but somehow it took a while to warm up to the story.
The writing was always enchanting, though, and I knew I was gonna fall in love with the story soon enough. Enna is easy to love, just like Ani (or Isi as she calls her) but they are different. Ani had to grow from being too shy and awkward to be confident and brave. Enna's journey is different. She's already confident enough, being from the Forest and all, but she's very impulsive, strong-minded and proud. All great traits which make her a beautiful character, but which also lead her to make some big mistakes.
My favourite part was the second half, and if you haven't read it, skip this paragraph as it's hard to talk about it without some spoilers...
We come to realise, as hinted by Ani/Isi, that Enna's gift is a dangerous one, even more than expected, and that it won't be easy to get rid of it. Just like a drug, it starts to take over Enna's life from the inside and there seems to be no solution. The ending was absolutely beautiful. It showed the strong friendship bond that exists between the two young women, and it reminds us that the only way nature work is by maintaining its balance. You can learn its language but it can literally eats you up if you don't understand it as a whole. Loved it.
(end of spoilers)
My favourite fantasy books never take magic lightly. They show there's always consequences, laws and balances to learn before you can master it. That's one of the reasons why I will always refer to Ursula K. Le Guin and her Eearthsea series as some of the best fantasy ever written.
I love the Harry Potter's books because they're entertaining and cleverly plotted, but their careless use of magic will always slightly annoy me.
I'm happy to say Shannon Hale's works falls into the "best" category. At least her fantasy books, which are the only ones I've read so far.
I'm really glad there's another one to read in this series, River Secret, which I know nothing about. Another chance to get that cosy warm feeling of revisiting a beloved world and characters.

other reviews:
Things mean a lot
Nothing of Importance
Melody's Reading Corner
Rhinoa's Ramblings
Words by Annie
The Written World
Always dreaming
Please let me know if you've written about it too.

Does My Head Look Big In This? - Randa Abdel-Fattah

"What's the big deal? It's a piece of material."
My mother snorts. "Since when do people see it as a mere piece of material? You and I both know that's a tad optimistic, ya Amal."
"So what? I can deal with all the crap...I want to try...and I want that identity. You know, that symbol of my faith. I want to know what it means to be strong enough to walk around with it on and stick up for my right to wear it."

So that's why sixteen-year old Amal decides to go full-time. That means wearing the hijab anytime a man who's not part of the family is around. Outside her house, at the mall, at the cafè, but especially in school. Not a decision to be taken lightly, when you're an Australian-born -Palestinian-Muslim student in a posh non-Muslim school. It takes guts, but Amal is dead serious and won't listen to anyone telling her it's a crazy idea.

I really enjoyed reading this. My first thought was that it should be given to anyone who's ever wondered what a girl who wears the veil thinks and feels. What are the reasons behind her custom. Whether she was forced to wear it or she's proud of it. It answers all these questions and more, in a straight-forward way. But this is not simply a book with a message.
It's mainly a very funny, witty and engrossing read. Its main character Yamal is a strong-minded and extremely smart girl who sticks up for her traditions and culture, while being a normal teenager with everyday teenage problems like zits, boy crushes, bitchy queen bees and best friends with weight complexes. It's hard not to like her.
Then there're a myriad of secondary characters: Amal's classmates, her Muslim friends, her family, her grumpy Greek neighbour. They all make this book a pleasure to read. I especially loved Amal's relationship with Mrs Vaselli, the Greek neighbour. It has a bumpy start, but it gets warmer and heartfelt and bittersweet.

One underlining theme of the book was the different ways in which human beings can experience immigration. Some will try to forget their past and blend in with the locals, in the hope of being accepted as equals. Others will cling on their cultures, and stick together, so not to feel too far away from home, and to remember who they are. Others will never truly feel at home and will end regretting the journey all their lives.
And then there's the second generation, the kids like Amal, who are born in a country, but for many people, they will never belong because their parents came from somewhere else.
To Amal she is a real Australian and is entitled to the same rights as any other Australian citizen, but at the same time she's also a Muslim whose parents happened to be born in Palestine. Just like her friend Eileen whose parents are Japanese.
Although Amal is proud of her heritage and will always defend it against its detractors, you can definitely sympatise with her when she's constantly asked to respond for terrorists actions done in the name of her religion. Wearing the hijab makes it even harder, because it exposes her immediately to the public and it seems to give people the right to associate her with murderous acts committed by complete strangers. And while Amal can't tolerate to always having to defend herself, the author is also showing that is just ignorance and the media depiction of terrorists as simply Muslim which causes confusion and misunderstandings among people. When Amal decides to respond, she's always spot on: it's not about religion. Just like it wasn't about religion in Northern Ireland. It's about politics. It seems like a very easy thing to grasp when she says it, and yet, TV and newspapers makes it a lot harder to tell the difference.

Another aspect that it brilliantly dealt with is the treatment of women in Islam. Most of non-muslim would think that Islam would be suppressive of women's rights. While Amal has being brought up to stand up for herself, to believe in education as a means to achieve independence, and to protest when she's called a "chick" by her male friends.
When her Muslim friend is pushed by her mother to find a suitable husband so that she can leave school and be a good wife, Amal is appalled that her friend's mother considers this part of being a good Muslim. To her it's just part of a tradition, not of her religion.
While I don't know enough about Islam to say if this it true or not, I appreciate the author's efforts to show that not every Muslim thinks the same, and that there can be multiple interpretations of the same religion.

One thing that I had a bit of a problem, though, was with Amal's decision to avoid any physical contact with the opposite sex before marriage. I understand that it's part of her religion of which I know little about. But I do feel that it's very similar to the Christian idea of virginity as the highest form of purity and the idea of sex as sinful and impure. I strongly oppose this view , I believe it's unhealthy and unnatural. In the same way I shudder at the thought of virginity pacts and rings, I can't bring myself to warm up to Amal's idea of refusing any kind of promiscuity until she finds the right one with whom she will spend the rest of her life. I see it as a very unrealistic expectation which is bound to bring her disappointment. I know many won't agree and will tell me I should respect her right to choose not to have sex until marriage. I do respect it, but I don't agree with it, and I can't shut up about it.

Anyway, I'm really happy I read this, it has definitely open up my mind about many issues, and it has given me a rare insight in the mind of a teenage Muslim in a way both entertaining and satisfying. You shouldn't miss it.

Other views:
Reading in color
Books love me
Adventures in reading
Bookshelves of doom
What Kate is reading
Becky's Book reviews
I was a teenage book geek


Please let me know if I missed yours.

Unsung YA Heroes, a.k.a. My Favourite Young Adult Books you (probably) haven't read yet

Kelly at Yannabe has come up with this awesome project - Unsung YA heroes - and it's all about celebrating the love for lesser known YA books in need of more TLC...how could I not be in it??
It's a bit like the Nerds Heart YA Tournament (which btw, is happening again and why didn't I know anything about it until yesterday?!) except that it's not a tournament and that we can pick books published any year, as long as they haven't reached the big audience they deserve (yet).
If you would like to read more about the project, learn how it works and maybe even post your own list, go read Kelly's master post here.

I have chosen to talk about 5 young adult books, which I have loved, reviewed, but somehow haven't praised enough. In no particular order:


The Year the Gypsies Came by Linzi Glass

I read this back in 2008 and I still think of it as one of the most lovely-written YA I've come across. Skimming through my review makes me want to read it again right now. I had forgotten so much. Set in the '60 in Johannesburg, South Africa, it's the story of 12-year-old Emily and her dysfunctional family and how their lives are forever changed by the arrival of another strange family, one summer.
This what I wrote in my review:

What I loved most about this book is the way it’s written. The only word that I can find that describes it it’s gentle. It feels like a petal that softly touches the story and never intrudes too much. You can almost smell the flowers and the trees with exotic names (jacaranda, poplar, bluegum…) while you listen to a story told by Buza, the Zulu watchman who sits on a wooden stool all night at the edge of the garden, holding his stick who has been passed through generations and holds the power of sixty dead Zulu warriors.

I loved its sense of nostalgia, the wisdom and the beauty of those Zulu tales, the atmospheres that the writing created...It definitely deserves a much broader audience.

The Poison Throne by Celine Kiernan

To be fair, this one hasn't been released in the US or UK market yet, which is why it doesn't feature prominently on LibraryThing. But it did really well in Ireland, where it was first published, and also in Australia.
According to Amazon it will be released in Us and UK in April 2010, with brand new covers which look really cool, so look out for it!
From my review:

This story is not your usual fantasy adventure for teenagers. And maybe that's why it took me a little longer to get into it. It's a story about intrigue at court, yes, but at its core it's a story about relationships, about the strong bond that can exist between friends, family or lovers. It's real, and it's intense, but in a world ruled by protocol and politics, personal affections can become obstacles, or even powerful tools, depending who is using them.

I thought the honesty in the writing was unusual. It's very elegant but very physical and intimate too. As for all the books featured in this post, I'd love to read it again, especially before reading the second chapter "The Crowded Shadows".

The Foretelling by Alice Hoffman
I've read this before I started blogging, so I haven't written any reviews for it. But I still remember it as one of my favourites. It's the story of Rain, daughter of the queen of the Amazons, and next in line to take her place. Rain's birth was the result of a horrific rape, and that is why her mother shuns her. It's up to Rain to prove to her clan and to herself that she's worthy of being a leader.
Sparsely and skillfully written, this is a book you can read in one intense afternoon, and still carry it with you for a long time. It has a poetic, mythical quality to it which is matched by a wonderful message of peace and acceptance. It's also about women warriors, strong, independent and proud. What's not to like?


My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger
This is pure undiluted feel-good pleasure. It doesn't pretend to be anything else that great fun. The subtitle says it all: A novel of love, Mary Poppins and Fenway Park. Now, I don't know much about Fenway Park, but Love and Mary Poppins...yeah, definitely big hits with me:)
Especially when The Love was between two boys, Augie and Andy. This is what I wrote in my review:

The romance, oh the romance...Of course I'm talking about Augie and Angie. Maybe I don't read much YA gay romance between boys, but I thought this was the sweetest, most romantic, most adorable, most everything boy-on-boy literary love. The way their family and friends reacted was even cooler. They knew all along Augie was gay and they were wondering how long it would take him to figure it out. I probably felt closer to him than to any of the other characters.

I literally smiled and giggled all the way through it. And when I wasn't smiling I was fighting back emotional tears of empathy.
No wonder it managed to win all its rounds for The Nerds Heart YA Tournament and claimed its crown!



Broken Soup by Jenny Valentine
Although I still love Finding Violet Park more, I have gushed over it enough, I think. Broken Soup is great, too. Jenny Valentine needs to be HUGE!
This is what I thought after reading Broken Soup:

The charm of Jenny Valentine's style relies in the characters, I've already said that. But of course is not just that. It's in the way she describes emotions, which belies an attentive observation of human nature. It's in the metaphoric language, exemplified in the title, which can say so much with very little words. It's in the palpable love for all her characters. And in the fact that I feel I should reread this book right now to be able to explain why it was so good, because there's so much to highlight and to appreciate.
Oh, and there's a bit of a surprise ending, which combined with everything else that happens before, is a wonderful heart-warmer.

There's nothing else I can say, except READ IT!

Here endeth my "Unsung YA heroes" love letter. *Off to check out all the other unsung heroes*