Children's Books - Kelli

Lately, if you find me at a bar, you'll find me reading a young adult novel.  I'm starting a book club at my new middle school and am geeking out on all the YA fiction I left behind at age 12.

The Westing Game: A (it's our first book for book club this year)
The Hunger Games and Catching Fire: A (every 10-14 year old has read these though, so this was just for my own enjoyment again)
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: A (second book club book of the year)
Half Magic: B (a little too young for 6th-8th graders)

Up next: And Then There Were None

I'm still struggling through Grapes of Wrath - it's enjoyable, but the pacing is a little slow.  I've also started War of the Worlds, which I think I'll get through more quickly.

A Separate Peace - Caitlin's Thoughts

So I also read this when I was feeling guilty about the challenge.  Took two days worth of metro rides.  I love short books.

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS: I had high expectations.  They weren't dashed.  Aside from the heavy hints of homosexuality, I found the main character EXTREMELY relatable.  Probably because he's a 17 year old boy who doesn't know what the hell is going on in the world and just studies hard instead.  Overall, the story was crafted very tightly.  Like no wasted space on annoying things I don't care about like irrelevant backstories; you just jump right in to the action and it's over as quick as it started.  Loves it!  I also think it was SUPER interesting to read about these kids basically isolated from the war but with it looming right there because they were totally going to get drafted in 1942 America.  I mean, I'm all for patriotism and serving for your country and stuff but hooray for those kids staying kids and then missing battle.  In some ways the book was about the horrors of war/battle/violent competition but (refreshingly) without the battle sequences/everyone dying you find in most books about boys in WWII.

MUSINGS: This is why I don't do reckless things like jump into shallow water or run on slippery paths or join infantry units on a whim.

SPOILER ALERTS: I won't spoil it but the foreshadowing is EPIC.

GRADESHEET:
Readability: A
Pace: A+++
Pacifism: A
Satisfying Ending: B
Main Character's Likeability: A+++
Advertisement for Boarding School: C-

Game of Thrones - A happy interlude

So the real reason I've been moving so slowly challenge-wise is that I've started reading the Song of Fire and Ice series.  And those books are epic.

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS: So I've seen Game of Thrones so I pretty much knew plotwise how this was going to shake down.  Getting through the first two books was actually somewhat annoying because I knew what was going to happen and just wanted to get there.  But still enjoyable reads.  Plus I figured out how to spell all of the characters' names.  Sort of.  Pretty typical epic fantasy type stuff with a little incest and political intrigue thrown in for kicks.  Well-written, creative, lots of interesting characters, a positive dwarf role model, heavy on the action, light on the self-reflection- what's not to love?  The good news is, there isn't a third season of GoT so now I WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENS AND WILL READ THE BOOKS SO FAST!!!!!!! The bad news is, this means I'm not about to tackle Grapes of Wrath anytime soon......

MUSINGS: How strong do you have to be to chop a dude's head off in one sword swipe?  Seriously?  Like how much would you need to be able to lift?

SPOILER ALERTS: If you are honorable, then you will die.

GRADESHEET:
Readability: A
Pace: A (BUT THESE BOOKS ARE LONG!)
Violence: A
Satisfying Ending: WHO KNOWS SO MANY MORE TO READ!
Narrator's Likeability: B?
Sweet Fake Religions: A

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" from Kelli

Funny at first.  Then meh.

GRADE SHEET:
Pacing: B+
Readability: B-
Protagonist's Likability: C
Satisfying Ending: D
Made up shenanigans: A

"Main Street" - Caitlin's Musings aka I Love You Sinclair Lewis

I'm slowing down reading-wise as I have been back to reading tons for my job.  This book took me forever to read but not because it was slow, boring, or challenging.

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS:  Why didn't I read any Sinclair Lewis sooner?  I'm pretty sure he's my soul mate.  But seriously.  For once, a book about someone who is unhappy with their life and after fighting unsuccessfully to change it for a long time, just leaves it.  And I really appreciated that Carol (big town girl moved to small town with her country-bumpkin doctor hubby post-marriage) had perspective.  Like her woes were not as bad as those of unwed mothers, poor immigrant farmers, or factory workers.  This is how rational people think and these type of characters don't make enough appearances in classic literature.  Add in the excellent political commentary and intelligent viewpoint on the Midwest and small-town America and this one of my new faves from the challenge.  Ending could have been a bit cheerier but you can't get everything you want.

SPOILER ALERTS:  The main character has a lot of perseverance so be prepared for a lot of the same.

MUSINGS:  So happy to see a male author writing about an independent suffragette type who still loves her baby lots.  That's right.  Feminists have feelings too.

GRADE SHEET:
Narrator's Likeability: A+++
Pacing: B
Readability: A
Pro-East Coast Mentality: A
Satisfying Ending: B
Rationality: A

"O, Pioneers" from Kelli

This book rocks.  Everything Caitlin said about it her post was true and then some.  Cather's writing is sharp and descriptive.  Her descriptions of Nebraska and human's attachment to the land is similar to how well Steinbeck describes his beloved Salinas Valley.  I think the connection to land and people is something that makes Cather and Steinbeck's writing stick out to me in a way that few authors do.  It makes you feel a certain sense of wholeness that few books are able to impart.  If Death Comes to the Archbishop is half as good as O, Pioneers was, it will also take it's place among my favorite books of all time.

GRADE SHEET:

Pacing: A

Readability: A+

Satisfying Ending: A (even though it pulls at the heartstrings)

Protagonist's Likability: A++

Descriptions of Wheat and Orchards: A

Overall:  A