Philip Pullman:The Amber Spyglass

I have been avoiding finishing the series. I knew the inevitable sense of loss and sadness that would follow the completion of the series--and I was right.

I wasn't expecting to love Lyra's story as much as I did, nor was I expecting the twists and the ending. I am really glad I knocked out the trio, but am inwardly sad and hoping that Mr. Pulman is working on a fourth--because I'd LOVE to see a few more. It was left quite open, and the potential is there.

One can hope.

I dread the coming of the movie--any deep meaning/intention will be lost in the Hollywood--ization. And the beauty and imaginativeness will be lost to so many.

Lyra's journey is one for all ages. Action-packed with several amazing, quirky, powerful characters; exciting plot twists, and a conclusion that you won't see coming.

Definitely worth the read.

Philip Pullman: The Subtle Knife

DAMN.

I am going to be super pissed if who I think is dead is dead.

I will write the full entry as soon as I can. REALLY AWESOME series though.

Kim Antieau: Mercy, Unbound

Angels don't eat--they aren't human.

Seventeen year old Mercy is becoming an angel. She can feel her wings growing--they itch her shoulderblades.

Mercy can't/won't/doesn't eat and her parents decide to send her to an eating disorders institution to help Mercy face her illness.

Mercy and her family aren't like most of the YA characters depicting adolescent worlds. Mercy is highly intelligent, her mother is an extreme activist (environmental lawyer) and does not hide her feminist perspectives from her daughter, and Mercy is a wealth of knowledge and perspective uncommonly fresh and unique.

As I got towards the end I thought it was wrapped up rather too neatly, but then Antieau weaved a totally different storyline into the conclusion, I was just amazed as to how sucked in I was.

I am glad I stuck with it, and even though the book does have some moments of hard-to-believe. The manner in which Mercy finds a way to confront her eating disorder is really original and well-worth the read.

Philip Pullman: The Golden Compass

WOW.
Ok, for those of you who have only begun--KEEP GOING!!!
I was really unsure I would enjoy this book initially, but finally after about the fifth chapter I was totally hooked.

Action-packed, interesting, imaginative, and a great heroine make up an extremely creative story. Lyra's world is similar to ours, but every human has an animal daemon (almost like a soul that chats with, comforts, and protects its human). Children's daemons change form (mainly to emulate their human's emotion/climate), but when children reach adulthood, the daemon permanently chooses an animal form.

The "controversial" part of the text doesn't really hit until the end of the novel, and I see how some religious sects might take offense, but it really is a masterfully crafted text. The end is also slightly violent and graphic, but not overly done.

Lyra is destined to do things for her world, but what they are have yet to be realized.

I also like this version of the text's cover more than the trade paperbacks I have--they aren't as fun-looking, and look much more like "grown-up" books.

Cynthia Rylant: God Went To Beauty School

Ok, I got this on a whim--inexpensive, short...you never know when a short text may be called for.

I read the first poem and a little worry crossed my mind--what kind of religious book did I pick up??

Well, it is a great novella (all in verse) that spins a unique tale of God (however the reader sees that figure) and what he/she might be like.

I read it in the bathtub, the language is manageable, and it isn't very controversial--unless you are against different perspectives on deities. I am glad I have this for my shelves. It was fun to read, and it is always nice to think that a possibility exists that maybe some Omniscient thing never really wanted death/pain for the world, and there might just be a really good sense of humor and lonely being out there.

My FAVORITE:
God Got A Desk Job
Just to see what it
would be like.
Made his back hurt.
God's always had a
bad back anyway--
the weight of the world
and all that.
He thought His job was tough,
'til He sat at a desk all day.
It was torture.
He could feel the Light
inside Him grow
dimmer and dimmer
and He thought that
if He had to pick
up that phone
one more time,
He'd just start the
whole Armageddon thing
people keep talking about.
(Not His idea, not His plan,
but in a pinch, He's
sure He can come up
with something.)
The only thing that got
Him through to the
end of the day was
Snickers bars.
He ate thirty-seven.
Plus thinking about the Eagle Nebula
in the constellation Serpens.
That helped.
(Cynthia Rylant: God Went to Beauty School pgs. 39-40)

Adele Geras: Ithaka

Really a good read. For those who love stories about Ancient Greece, this is a different perspective of Odysseus & Penelope told through the eyes of a servant-girl who waits on Penelope--Klymene.

*I'll get my book talk up here as soon as I can.

Edith Pattou: East

An enormous white polar bear, a loving and protective brother and father, a troll queen, and an adventurous, brave, spirited and head-strong young woman—combine together in a fast-paced fun adventure/quest in East. The main character’s enthusiastic passion to find her destiny and the changing voices narrating the story’s chapters will keep you captivated for the long haul!

Laurie Halse Anderson: Speak

What happened to Melinda that would cause her to chew her lips bloody and is the root of her not speaking? Find out as a very strong young woman overcomes a devastating and traumatic event through a heart-wrenching self-journey in solitude.

John Green: looking for alaska

By far one of my favorite books ever.

Pudge loves Alaska--crazy, moody, intelligent, beautiful Alaska. Pudge loves her even more than he loves the fact that he now has friends in boarding school he chose to go to a few states away from home.

In a whirlwind year, Pudge learns more about himself then he ever imagined--through pranks and unrequited love and his very first date.

John Green's book really is well-crafted (duh..it did win the Printz award)

Pete Hautman: invisible

If you are looking for an unreliable narrator--this is the text for you. Though, is the narrator really unreliable?

I was actually creeped out and disturbed by this book--something I wasn't really expecting. One of my classmates said that this was "Shin's story" (Shin from godless--who I always wanted to know what happened--what his dealio back-story was) but it totally was not.

The cover is actually exceptional and dead-on with the inherent importance of the struggle of the main character.

Well-written, much darker than godless, and you really never get the impression that you "get" the story--whose truth is truth?