lisaluvsliterature's Reviews (4.19k)

So, this is the first book I read for the 2012-2013 possible Gateway Award nominees through the Missouri Association of School Librarians. I've already 2 others on the list, but that was a while ago. Anyway, on with this review. It's also the first book that I ever checked out as an e-book from our public library! Very cool. And one other first, the very first Walter Dean Myers book I've ever read. Lots of firsts for this book.

This book reminded me of a few that I read for the Gateway award last fall, specifically [bc:We Were Here|6234369|We Were Here|Matt de la Pena|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1276004442s/6234369.jpg|6417030]. Both were good, and while not normally the type of book I would pick out to read, I can totally see the audience in my classrooms who would really want to read them. I'm so glad that I've gotten the opportunity to be a reader selector for the past few years for the different Missouri award book nominees. It has really given me more insight into books for all readers, and if I ever get the chance to be a school librarian, I'll feel even more prepared.

The main character is Reese, short for Maurice. He is in a juvenile detention center, jail for juvies basically. His crime was stealing prescription pads and giving them to someone so that person could then write fake scripts for drugs to sell. We start out the book with Reese hearing he has a chance to possibly get out early, and part of it is being a part of a new work program the center is trying. This center is called Progress. The job is working at a retirement home. At this home he meets a man named Mr. Hooft, who really is of that generation that doesn't trust black people and judges him as a criminal. Meanwhile, Reese is dealing with the other kids back at the detention center. While he's not in for a violent crime, he can lose his temper so quick and become extremely rough. And he actually does this most of the time in order to protect another inmate who keeps getting picked on, to the point where Reese is afraid this kid will be killed. But fighting is fighting, no matter why, and so he gets punished every time as well as the other person. And keeps putting his chance of early release in jeopardy.

I really liked the story between him and Mr. Hooft. It had parts that made me smile. I liked that deep down this kid was good, that he wanted to be good, but there were things in his environment that just kept getting him down and pushing him a step backward from his goals. I think the portrayal of the people working at the center is probably realistic, and kind of sad to think of. I know kids I can recommend this to, and I will. Good book.

So, as I started this book, I really didn't think I was going to like it because the main character, Sam, is just so unlikable. And I know that was the whole point of it, but still, I just didn't think I'd ever feel sorry enough for her that I could get into it. And that was disappointing because I loved the book [bc:Delirium|7686667|Delirium (Delirium, #1)|Lauren Oliver|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1298079937s/7686667.jpg|10342808]by the same author. And it was also bad because it is one of the possible nominees for next year's Gateway books that I have to read since I am a reader/selector again. It just seemed to me like a cross between the book A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and the movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray.
However, once I got into the book, I got sucked in. Every morning that Sam woke up, I wanted to see what she would do differently. It was the whole chaos theory in action. What did Sam need to do differently, first to save herself from dying. And then, when that didn't work, and she woke up again, what was it she actually needed to fix in order for it all to end? And how would she get it fixed? In a way, it brought my thoughts back to [bc:Thirteen Reasons Why|1217100|Thirteen Reasons Why|Jay Asher|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1181958465s/1217100.jpg|2588213] by Jay Asher. The reason I think this, is because even though the main character is so unlikable, just seeing how each little detail of what she did, or changed, affected those around her, well I think it's something good for teens/people to read. All these titles make me think of the book [bc:How Full Is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work and Life|49266|How Full Is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work and Life|Tom Rath|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170358190s/49266.jpg|48192], a book my school district used as kind of a theme one year for the school year. It's a book I think everyone should read at some point in their life, the younger the better. I just think sometimes, myself included, that people don't realize how something they say off-handedly or out of their own frustration can really hurt someone else in a way they never intended.
So even though I was sure I was not going to give this book any higher than 3 stars, I ended up with 4, which is pretty good for me with a character I didn't like. Once you get into it, like I said, it's hard to put down until you know how each day ends, and if what she's done will fix it.

I had been wanting to read this book for a long time. The whole zombie book trend has really hooked me I think. And this book did not disappoint. In fact, you'll notice I gave it 5 stars, and lately, even books that have been really good have only gotten a 4 from me. But I felt this was really different, had something new. Not sure exactly what I'd say was "new", but I did really enjoy this.

I didn't start out with the description of the book thinking that it would be this good though. This is a boy main character, and in this future world, when you reach a certain age, you must get a job or you don't get as many rations. In a way, the ration part, reminds me a bit of [b:The Dead-Tossed Waves|6555517|The Dead-Tossed Waves (The Forest of Hands and Teeth, #2)|Carrie Ryan|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275693767s/6555517.jpg|6549320]. Because one of the characters in that lost his sister because he was looking to get her money to live on by joining an army. And it was a zombie book. But going on, Rot & Ruin started out with the main character hitting the age and going to look for a job. The different jobs that were available were pretty interesting. Looking at pictures of lost loved ones and trying to predict how they would now look as a zombie. Checking the fences around the town to make sure they were strong enough to keep the zombies out. Working in a factory to squeeze the "juice" out of the dead zombies to make "cadaverine", a scent used for those who went out to hunt the zombies. Staying in the lookout towers to keep an eye on the zombies, the job his friend Chong gets. And finally, the job his brother has, zombie hunter. After either not being qualified for some of the jobs, or not wanting the others, Benny ends up working with his brother Tom.
Benny does not respect his brother. His first memory is of his mother handing him to his brother, and telling him to run as his father was attacking them as a zombie. And Benny cannot believe his brother left his mother to die. So now Benny cannot believe the big tough reputation his brother has as a zombie killer.
I thought this would be just a book about a boy learning how to hunt zombies and coming to respect his brother through that. But it was more. Learning to realize that the zombies weren't evil, they were just a disease that had taken over the bodies. The main story being that just normal people were really the ones that could be evil. The family stories, the "First Night" stories, I just felt all of it was really good. I can't wait to read the 2nd book in the series. Of course it will have to wait till I finish reading the books for Gateway nominee list, but it will be probably in December.

This is one of the books I read to help with selecting next year's Gateway Award nominees. I did really enjoy it. Didn't think I would, again, like many of the titles on the list this year, it is not my normal type of book. But I really liked the story, and got involved with the characters. At first I was irritated with the main character, Pancho, as he just didn't want to connect with anyone. Just pushed everyone away in his search for vengeance for his sister's death. I totally understood though, his need for vengeance. I can feel in the same situation that I would probably think the same way. I liked the D.Q. character, and again, I can see feeling the same way he did about his sickness and how he wanted to deal with it. I did feel it was a bit predictable with how the whole relationship with Marisol turned out. Obviously it wasn't a Nicholas Sparks type of book where she would fall in love with the terminally ill patient. But once it said something about how she would feel about Pancho, I knew at some point she would tell D.Q., and he would be upset, which he was. But I do like how he realized that was wrong, and how he came around to understand it. Overall, I think it would be a good read for kids on all sides. Even the way the vengeance portion turns out was a good, realistic seeming way, with a bit of a lesson in it.

I like the cause of the disaster in this book. I'm one of those people who has to know why people have become zombies, or everyone has died off, etc. And this book is the way I like it. I see the trend of electromagnetic pulses causing destruction in books. And I think it's a good thing to trend. We still have all the diseases causing the "end of the world", and that is still a concern, but the EMP is a new thing that is a real possibility as well. I like how in this book the EMP not only causes all the electronic equipment to quit, it also affects people and animals. Which, from a science teacher's point of view, is such a great thing to get kids thinking and asking questions. I've heard this called a dystopian book, but to me it's not, it's more of an apocalyptic story. Since we get to go along with all that happens from before until after the EMP. The storyline seems realistic to me. We have losses of characters, and they get injured and don't just miraculously have the main characters surviving it all unscathed. I'll definitely be putting this as a staff recommendation at the bookstore where I work, as well as suggesting it to the students at the school where I teach. Great book, and I can't wait for the sequel to find out what happens next.

http://misclisa.blogspot.com/2011/08/ashes-by-ilsa-j-bick.html

I borrowed this book from my friend Kim, who won it from a contest here on Goodreads. I actually saw this book before then on the shelf at the bookstore where I work, and blogged about it in one of my Hazards of Working at a Bookstore entries. So I was very excited she won it and I got to borrow it.
I'm going to start with what I didn't like. I didn't like the drugs part. I totally understand why the character was taking them, well, I understand based on what the author wrote it as. But I guess I'm just a goody-goody in that I don't like that she couldn't overcome the drugs even when things seemed to be looking up for her.
Okay, on to the good stuff. The main character is Jamie, and she is spending the summer as an au pair on this little island. She gets to go live in this huge house and take care of the little girl. She doesn't learn till she gets there that the au pair from the year before died tragically. She also doesn't know that the little girl's big brother will end up hanging out with them all summer. Weird things start to happen. Jamie also finds out that she looks eerily similar to the au pair from the year before, and as has become something that haunts her at home, she is seeing the girl's ghost, along with the boy that she died with. The story was really good, one I didn't want to put down while I was reading, and the twist at the end was so good, I needed to go back in the book and try to see why I hadn't figured it out earlier. Not a spooky ghost story to me, but an intriguing one.

I read this book after hearing about an author challenging the movie In Time that comes out next week starring Justin Timberlake. The movie is about people only living until the age of 25, and for any time after that they work to earn it. Living until 25 though, means that you don't age past that. You pretty much look that age as long as you have time. You get paid in time, you pay for things in time. It looks like a really interesting movie.
I can see how the idea could have come from this short story, but honestly, the movie looks to have gone in a bit different direction. The people in the book are killed if they are late or waste time. It doesn't talk about using time as currency or only living till a certain age. So while I can see the basis of the idea, I don't see the actual whole plot of the movie in this short story.
The story is kind of weird and hard to follow, something many other reviewers on here like about it. And I can understand that. But it wasn't really enjoyable to me to read. I liked the idea behind it, but wish it had made more sense.

I actually really liked this book. I think the subject of anorexia is one that is very overlooked sometimes. I liked the irony in a girl who was anorexic being in charge of famine. I liked that the other riders, Death, War, and Pestilence, were portrayed in a somewhat different way than you normally see. I like the choice that Famine was given. This book did speak to me personally, not that I'm anorexic, but that I struggle with weight, and I understand the feeling of looking in the mirror, and what you see is not what others see. There are times I leave my home and I thought what I put on looked good in my mirror. Then I get to school and walk by a window and see my reflection and hate how fat I look. Or I'm somewhere like a party, in an outfit I planned and thought made me look really good, then I see a picture later and think wow, how fat I really am, and why don't I see that in the mirror when I look. And then other people will say how good I look, and I don't think I look like that. For a long time, when I was younger, I never understood how anorexics could look in a mirror and feel fat, when all I saw was barely any person there. But now that I can't trust my own eyes when I look in a mirror, I get it. And I think this book showcases that very well. I like that at the end it isn't just easy for her to begin eating and be normal. She thinks she can, but soon that "thin voice" is back in her head telling her how many calories, or minutes exercising each food will cost her. And making her feel guilty for even thinking of eating one french fry.
I look forward to reading the next one in the series, Rage. This was a quick read, as it is a short book, and I think there could probably have been more detail to flesh the story out and make it last a bit longer if there was anything that wasn't perfect about the book, that's it.

I really enjoyed this book. It is not really historical fiction, but it goes back and does get into some history and it is a ghost type story as well. In a way it reminds me just a little bit of [b:Ghosts I Have Been|1146093|Ghosts I Have Been|Richard Peck|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1181394804s/1146093.jpg|1528949]one of my favorite series ever when I was younger. I like that this has the history along with the ghost story. And I also enjoyed reading from the viewpoint of a teen boy who has a black father and a white mother. It was interesting to read his take on his father's crusade to get reparations. This book also jumped between viewpoints of Law Walker, and the "crazy" girl in town, Katie Mullen. It turns out that Law had a crush on Katie when they were younger, before she became the crazy girl. But his mother didn't let him ask her to the dance because she lived on the wrong side of the town. Law's mom and dad are well to do. Katie is not. In fact she lives with her step-father, because her father died in the military, and her mother died later. But now Katie sees ghosts. She wants to believe it is just hallucinations, until she draws one of the ghosts and when Law sees the drawing, he doesn't know how she knows what those things looked like. She has to come to terms with the fact that things in her past may not be quite as she has believed. And Law must figure a way to do what he wants and not completely disappoint his father who has his own plans for Law.
I really enjoyed this book. Couldn't wait to get back to it whenever I had to put it down. It was also nice that I had some extra time when I was reading this so that I did not have to take too long to read it.

I got this book from Netgalley, and am so glad I did! I'm a huge fan of Robin Wasserman's books because of the Skinned series, which I think is now called the Cold Awakening series. But anyway, this is a really good book. It is one that makes me realize why I can never finish any of the books I start. The depth of the detail and the back story in this is incredible! I love books that use letters or flashbacks to historical diaries or events like this one does. In a way this is a Da Vinci Code type of book in that it brings in an ancient religious sect. I also like the sciencey part to it, as I am a science teacher. This was a big book, lots and lots of story to read. It starts out and says where it starts is the middle of the story. But really, while it is kind of the start of the whole 2nd part, the 2nd part is HUGE! Not in a bad way, just you get to that part and it's not really the middle of the book, just the middle of the story. I do like that it starts like that, so that you know kind of what is to happen, but you don't know just what will happen after that until you get to that part. I loved that I was kept guessing on whether the boyfriend, Max, was a bad guy or a good guy the whole time. So many clues led you back and forth. And the cousin, the unknown guy who shows up after Chris's murder, again, you don't know if he's good or bad. I kind of wanted to like Eli, hated him at first for how he talked to Nora, the main character, but as the story went on, really liked the love-hate relationship they had, I often enjoy those types of stories.
The story talks about an elusive machine that is supposed to get the maker/user in touch with God, it is called the Lumen Dei. The way it works at the end when they finally get it together is really good and totally adds to the whole story, and makes up for waiting all through the story to know what it will really do, although you're not left knowing what actually happens.
Great book, I'll be putting it as a staff recommendation at the bookstore where I work when it comes out in January.