Twisted

Twisted

Laurie Halse Anderson, 2007

This book was decent, although not great. I really like the way that Anderson writes teens and deals with tough teen issues. This book had some excellent characters and I found the plot generally very interesting. I just felt that the issue of the main character deciding what he was going to do was kind of a throw away and resolved far too quickly. It was actually a good book, but compared to Speak, one of Anderson's other books, it just falls kind of flat at the end. If I hadn't read that one first, though, I think I would have liked this one a lot more. Still worth a read, especially for teens. 

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Junot Diaz, 2001

I'm not sure about this book. It wasn't at all what I was expecting. It left me feeling disappointed, because I had heard such great things and ended up being underwhelmed with the book, but at the same time I didn't really dislike it either. I thought the book was very well-written and interesting, but ultimately the title is misleading, because only about a quarter of the book is about Oscar. The rest is about his sister or his mother as a young girl or his grandfather. All Oscar's family, sure, but having very little to do, if anything, with Oscar's story. 

The one thing that I really did dislike about the book, though, is that parts of it were written in Spanish. Sometimes dialogue, sometimes just a word or two, but it was in Spanish. It fit in with who the narrator was and made it sound like he was really speaking the story to you, which was almost kind of cool, but with a book that already made use of footnotes, why not translate the Spanish into English in a footnote? It makes no sense and alienated me as a reader. 

Overall a decent story in general, but more as a view of an extended Dominican family and not of one individual, as the title and summary indicate. Just not as great as I was lead to believe. 

A Red Herring Without Mustard

A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce #3)

Alan Bradley, 2011

Pretty enjoyable continuation of the series. There are times when Flavia really just annoys me - mostly when she's trying to get revenge on her sisters - but I like a mystery where I don't see the ending coming, and I didn't guess 'whodunnit' before they revealed it, so props there. Not perfect, but a definite fun read. 

Life's a Beach

Life's a Beach

Claire Cook, 2007

I don't often read this type of fluffy, chick-lit type of book, but it was a freebie a while back, so I figured why not? Not a bad read overall. I liked the main character. It made me laugh a few times. Nothing special, but a cute and easy read.

The Giver

The Giver (The Giver Quartet #1)

Lois Lowry, 1993

One of my favorite books of all time. I re-read this one every few years, and with the new book, Son, coming out just last year, I decided now was a great time to pick this one up again. I just love everything about this book. I'll be re-reading the next two books soon and am excited to see what Son is like.

Getting Stoned with Savages

Getting Stoned with Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu

J. Maarten Troost, 2006

This was my second book by Troost, the first being The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific. While I think Sex Lives was was maybe a little better, this one was definitely a worth-while read. I really enjoy Troost's take on life in the South Pacific - it has really changed my idea on what the area is like, not necessarily for the better, although the people seem mostly pretty cool. Not the centipedes, though. Definitely could do without the foot-long, poisonous centipedes. *Shudder*. Excellent read, though. I look forward to checking out his other book.

Life of Pi

Life of Pi

Yann Martel, 2001

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. Some parts were really good, but a lot of parts dragged. I enjoyed the actual drama of what Pi was going through, shipwrecked at sea with no one for company but a wild tiger in his lifeboat - not exactly the company you'd look for. I liked seeing Pi's attempt to train the tiger and his adventures on the sea. But there were too many parts, mostly where Pi or the author were considering how this experience proved the existence of God, that just fell flat for me. I guess I just don't feel the love for it that so many people do, although I feel for the most part that it was a pretty good read. Just not one of my favorites.