Traveling Through Books

  "Love, Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli SPOILER ALERT: This is a sequel to "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli. If you haven't read "Stargirl" I may spoil some things for you! Verdict: Read Stargirl, then read this... Genre: Young Adult Fiction Okay, I have to say that I did not enjoy this as much as "Stargirl". "Love, Stargirl" is written in epistolary format (in letters) rather, one very long letter. The letter is from Stargirl to Leo. "Love, Stargirl" is Stargirl's journey to rediscovering herself. As you know, in "Stargirl", she kind of loses sight of the care-free girl that you come to love. What you don't realize is how much she lost. I found "Love, Stargirl" rather depressing. Stargirl still does the somewhat odd things that you learned to love her for in the first book, but in this book she is epically sad and it's mostly about Leo. This really bothers me, I wanted her to move on from L...

Title:   Prudence Author: Gail Carriger Genre: Steampunk/Historical Urban Fantasy Publisher: Orbit Read In: Nook ePub One of my favorite authors just released the first installment of the sequel series to the Parasol Protectorate books. Prudence is the offspring of Lady Alexia and Lord Maccon. As always, Carriger's use of vocabulary and history mixed with wit and a supernatural steampunk adventure makes for a very entertaining book. If you haven't read the Parasol Protectorate series... do so. Now. But in the meantime let me explain Prudence. Prudence is the main character of this novel. She is born of a preternatural and werewolf. This makes her a metanatural. That means she can "steal" or "borrow" the abilities or forms of supernaturals (werewolves, vampires, other were creatures, etc.) just by touching them. Really, this book simply contains some characters you already love, and if not them- their children. The adventures are similar to that o...

“Survivor” by Chuck Palahniuk Verdict: If you like things to analyze and make you think… Read it. “Survivor” by Chuck Palahniuk is a great book. I loved reading it; it truly is a book to discover as you read. Palahniuk’s writing style is what really makes this book stand out. It really is the writing that progresses the story and the writing that makes the slow discovery process possible. Don’t mistake, however, that by slow discovery I mean that the story is slow moving; it’s far from it. This book sucks you in and doesn’t let you go until the end. However, even if you don’t notice, or care about why the writing style makes this story possible, it’s an amazing read. The character, though sometimes distant and hard to relate to, is so intriguing and unique that you can’t wait to see what’s going to happen, or rather what happened to cause his situation. Tender Branson is not only a unique person, but in a unique situation. As you find out in the first chapter, he is narrating the s...

  “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass” by Lewis Carroll Verdict: Must Read! This is a book that I consider a must read for everyone. In fact, I feel so strongly about it that I wouldn’t consider anyone well-read if they haven’t read both of these books. The two stories are fantastic in every sense of the word. “Words, words, words.” This Quote from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” makes me think that Shakespeare must have been present in Lewis Carroll’s inspiration. When it comes to “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass” the only word that really comes to mind is wordplay. Carroll is a genius at wordplay, and though this was my second time reading the two books, I was even more amazed than the last. His wordplay extends beyond the created world and the words he uses to describe it. The wordplay plays with grammatical uses, word-meaning, assonance, consonance… it just goes on and it’s a thrill to read. If you don’t like, or go c...