I'm late to the party on this series of books, I know, but wow, I may make up for it in the sheer force of my obsession. I read these three books through TWICE in the space of about two weeks. For those who may not have read them yet, they are the story of Bella Swan, who's moved to cloudy, rainy, dreary Forks, Washington to live with her dad. In her new town she falls in love with a vampire, finds a new best friend who's a werewolf, and well, adventure follows. If you like vampire / werewolf stories, you might like these. If you like hopelessly gooey, eternally heart-wrenching love stories (wherein the characters say things like "You are my life now....") then you need to read these books ASAP.
Several of of LGPL-ers went to a talk last week about Great New YA books from 2007 and 2008, and we're reading them as fast as we can get our hands on them. Here are some I tried this week:
I was drawn to this book, hoping for another "An Abundance of Katherines," and I didn't exactly get what I expected. The story is about a boy, Nathan, who's parents keep hoping he'll show some signs of genius. His dad is a quantum physicist who has a tendency to take him to the Stanford Linear Accelerator for his birthday, rather than Disneyland. Then, Nathan is in a car accident, and when he wakes up he has a photographic memory and a case of synesthesia (which I had already learned about on an episode of "House".) Even still, with his new-found genius, he and his dad still have a hard time. It's not lighthearted, like "An Abundance of Katherines," but still an intriguing read. We've got this on in our adult collection.
This is a hard book to "enjoy" in the strictest sense of the word. It's very well written, and I was thinking about it whenever I wasn't reading it, but it's a rather sad book, all in all. The story starts in Ireland, in the 900s, where Melkorka is an Irish princess. She's captured by a Viking slaving ship, headed for Iceland. While captive, she refuses to speak, and the Vikings think she is a stork / witch. She's comparatively well treated, and she refines her views of slavery, obviously. All in all, I'd say it's worth a read, but maybe be prepared to follow it up with something a little more lighthearted.
Another sad but compelling story. The story of Laika, the dog that was aboard Sputnik II, the first living being in space. A really informative look at the story of Sputnik, and some of the characters involved in building the satellites and working with the animals. Again, grab something light for when when you finish this one.
1 comment:
Hush by Donna Napoli - That sure made the 900's come to life with its grittiness and savagery. The attitudes towards and the impact of slavery were very well presented. The princess was saved by chance, her attitude and intelligence; The outcome didn't fit into her original plan, but the princess prevailed as a more complete character by the end of the story. Great story!
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