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First of all, the guy who used to sit next to me in English class lent me the entirety of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, which I read over the course of three weeks. Personally, they take a certain level of trust to read, considering half the time you don't understand why something is going on. Douglas Adams' has a great sense of humor and nonsense, though, and I love these books for it. My favorites of the series were definitely books one and four. (That is, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish.) Book one has probably the most coherent plot of the series, as well as the most time spent with all four main characters in one place. Book four has Fenchurch, who is altogether one of my favorite characters for being incredibly normal (and yet not at all). It also shows a different side to Arthur Dent that really isn't shown in any of the other novels, which is nice.
I've also read some books for my school's book club. I am quite proud to proclaim I am the president of book club (and also its number one promoter, next to my vice president and friend) and thus had a bit of sway when it came to choosing the books this year. Unlike last year, we don't have strictly romances on the list, and the ones that are on the list don't pretend to be something else.
The first two books our book club read were both by John Green– Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars. They have their similarities and their differences, but what really hooks me with John Green books is his voice. He's got a knack for the atypical teenager's voice, mixing intelligence with slang and a toss (more like heavy dosing) of emotional imbalance. His books don't just deal with fluffy nonsense either–both hold themes of coping with pain, death, and the future. What's more, The Fault in Our Stars joined the very short list of books that legitimately made tears come from my eyes. (Off the top of my head, that makes three books.)
I've also read a few others from our book club list in the past few years, namely Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (which I pushed to get on the roster because it is one of my favorite books ever), The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (which I recommend to you all with every bookish ounce I have), and Divergent by Veronica Roth (for which I eagerly await the final book!).
There are four other books on the list I haven't read. We'll get to those when I cross that bridge.
I also read Shards and Ashes, an anthology of short dystopian stories by popular YA authors. There were a few I really liked, and a few I didn't so much. That's how it goes with anthologies, I'm afraid. Still, I can't get enough of them. Short stories are some of my favorites. They hold a lot more punch than epic sagas a lot of the time.
Speaking of short books with punch, for English this year we're reading Night by Elie Wiesel. I'm nearly done with it, and wow, talk about using your words well. He writes in a very understated, blunt fashion, and it really hits hard. Night is a short memoir of Elie Wiesel's experiences as a Hungarian Jew deported at the end of WWII to Auschwitz. Wiesel paints with his words, and the picture is a sad truth. Still, the way he does it is phenomenal. Should you ever want to pick up a novel on the Holocaust, this is the one you should grab first.
There's even more books I'm currently reading, ranging from The Ugly American by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer to A Stretch of Loyalty by Miss Jack Lewis Baillot, which has gotten the short end of the stick as I cycle through books that I can only have for so long. ('Tis the sorry reality of books I own. I may want to read them, but library/friends' copies come first.)
What about all of you? Have you read any jaw-droppingly good books lately? Are you excited for the Ender's Game, Divergent, or The Fault in Our Stars movie(s)? (I certainly am!)
Until next time,
Hailey Jenkins
Very cool! You've read a very divergent (see what I did there?) group of books and they all sound so good!
ReplyDeleteOooo I can't wait for the Ender's Game movie. My friend is really looking forwards to the Fault in Our Stars movie - it's her favorite book.