Review: Rose Under Fire

Sometimes a fictional world is too rich to want to give up. I adored Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, the story of a female British spy captured by the Nazis in World War II France, so completely that I reread most of it as soon as I had finished the book. Fast forward to this summer, when I managed to get my grubby hands on a copy of its not-quite-sequel Rose Under Fire, and I cried the same stupid-ugly tears (although maybe not quite as many) that I had for Code Name Verity. Ultimately, though, I found Rose to be lacking when held up alongside Verity,

Rose is an American who has volunteered to fly for the Air Transport Auxiliary, ferrying damaged or recently repaired planes around England (yes, the same ATA that Maddie flies for). Through a variety of events, she ends up captured by the Nazis and taken to Ravensbruck, a women's concentration camp in Germany. She is housed with a variety of women, mostly Polish and Russian political prisoners. This is notable because there are so many Holocaust novels out there, and there are relatively fewer about the people who were put in camps because of things other than being Jewish.

Rose certainly doesn't have the worst time at Ravensbruck, but its not like its a cakewalk either. A rather important character from Code Name Verity shows up at the camp, and Rose talks about her without knowing a fraction of the things she's done. But while Code Name Verity left you wondering what was going to happen to Verity, you know fairly early that Rose is fine because of the way she's writing her story. All in all, this is just another World War II book, but it also happens to have links to the wonderful Code Name Verity that make it interesting to those who have already read the first book.

Rose Under Fire could be read as a stand-alone book, but you'd get so much more out of it as a companion. If you only have time for one WWII book in your life right now, opt for Code Name Verity, which is much more inventive and emotional.

Donna Tartt and The Goldfinch

When I say I was excited for Donna Tartt's new book, The Goldfinch, that's something of an understatement. I'd been dying to get my hands on the book since the moment I heard about it. Her first book, The Secret History, is probably the book I've read the most times (well, adult book. Madeleine L'Engle probably has more rereads for me.), and I end up rereading it every few years.

So I was also a little worried about getting my hands on the new book. I still haven't read her second book, The Little Friend; I had heard such abysmal things about it that I didn't want it to ruin The Secret History for me. That's how much I love The Secret History.

The Goldfinch, however, does not disappoint. It is still VERY different from Tartt's first book, but the fluid prose is still there, painting gorgeous pictures with every sentence. The Goldfinch follows Theo, a boy living in New York City, as he deals with profound loss and inescapable confusion. The title of the book refers to a painting that Theo sees on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art at the beginning of the book, and the painting itself is as much a character throughout the story as any other.

With this novel, there have been countless comparisons to Dickens for Tartt, and deservedly so. This reminded me specifically of Great Expectations, where minor characters from the beginning show up near the end, having moved things in much more important ways than you could ever have guessed. The cast of characters is large and varied, and Tartt deserves accolades just for keeping all their voices straight in such a spectacular way.

Now, did I really enjoy this book? I'm not sure if I can say yes to that. I felt like I was slogging through it at times, and I definitely felt it could have been pared down a bit. Of course, any book with almost 800 pages will feel a bit like that.

However, I am left thinking about this book. It hasn't left me in the weeks since I read it, which is rare for me. I don't think I'll be able to shake the mood of this book for a long time.

Last night, I had the opportunity to hear Donna Tartt speak at Wellesley Books. I was in a pretty terrible mood when I got there, and some comments one of the booksellers made and the fact that Ms. Tartt wouldn't sign any backlist (ie The Secret History) left me in an even grumpier mood. However, hearing Donna Tartt read a passage from the book and talk about her writing process was wonderful. She knows the book so well that it was almost like watching a one-person play. It was also clear why it takes her 10 years to write a book, as her speech does not have the clarity or fluidity that her prose does. But she spoke at length about loving writing from a young age, and it is clear to anyone who has read her books that she absolutely does love writing.

The Goldfinch may seem like a challenging book to many, but I would definitely recommend it. The quality of the prose is superb, and like I said, it's a book that will stick with you for a while.

Review: Building Stories

From the moment I heard about Building Stories by Chris Ware, I was intrigued (and a bit daunted). It's a graphic novel of sorts, told over multiple works housed in one big box. It took me a while to get around to it (and a while for one of the few copies in my library network to make it to me), but once it was in my hands, I settled in for a marathon of reading.

The title would imply that the stories all revolve around one building (a 3-apartment building), and for a while, they do. The 14 pieces of the story can really be read in any order, but I read it from largest to smallest (mostly), which kept things more or less in chronological order. The later pieces veer away from the apartment building, following just one of the characters as she moves out of the building and moves on with her life.

And there lies my largest problem with the whole book. I wanted the story to completely remain within the apartment building, or at the very least, follow all the participants. Instead, by focusing more firmly on just one of the people, it made the stories of the other two apartments feel more trivial. In particular, there is the unhappy couple that lives on me second floor - why are they so unhappy? how long do they live in the building? Why should I care?

If you enjoy the graphic novel form, then you can't miss this one, based on its form alone. The nonlinear format trumps the not-so-fulfilling story. It actually left me pretty depressed, partially because nothing is wrapped up and partially because the content itself is not terribly happy. Don't read this in one go on a rainy day like I did.

Review: You

I will read just about any novel a that involves video games. Frankly, the gold standard on the subject, Ready Player One by Ernie Cline, has potentially ruined the genre, simply because it is just so damn good. That doesn't mean I won't keep reading, though.

So without knowing too much about You by Austin Grossman other than something vague about video games, I was eager to read it. And jumping into a world of video game development set in Boston in the '90s, I was intrigued. 

And yet somehow, I found that it took me more than a week to read. I don't normally read that slowly, except when a book can't hold my attention. I was rooting for this one all along, but it just didn't do it for me.

The biggest flaw in this book was the concept that gave it its title. Every once in a while, the reader is treated to a section written in second person ("you") describing the play of the video game. I really like the idea of this, because video games are usually about immersing yourself in a world (sights, sounds, actions, feelings, etc) enough to make you feel like you're really there. But in the book, I felt less immersed in the world than rushed through it. The narrator, Russell, is the one playing through the games, but I felt less like I was looking over his shoulder and more like he was telling me about it after the fact. Add to the fact that occasionally the second person reads like it's from the point of view of yet another character, the deceased genius behind the video game company, and I was really lost. Without these second-person interludes, this book would have been much, much stronger.

If you enjoy video games, then this would be a fun but not earth-shattering read. If you're not already a gamer, this is not going to make you one, and frankly, might just confuse you.

Review: Nantucket Blue

Sometimes I find myself completely surprised by a book, and its a feeling that I love. How often can we say these days that our expectations were not only met but far exceeded? That's exactly what I got from Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland. I wanted to take a look at it because I knew it would be of interest to some of the teens at my library, but I wasn't exactly excited to read it. 

And then I couldn't put it down. What a wonderful feeling, to be so intrigued by something that seemed like just another typical teen romance at the outset.

That's not to say that it's not a typical teen romance in many ways. Main character Cricket is the odd girl out at her school - a scholarship kid surrounded by the way-too-rich-for-their-own-good who is just starting to get noticed by the hot guy.

Things take a turn, though, when Cricket's best friend's mother dies suddenly, a woman she considered as close as her own mother. Things chill between the two friends unexpectedly, leaving their summer plans of hanging around together on Nantucket up in the air.

There's nothing terribly earth-shattering about this book (although teens who have dealt with a death in the family or in the community may find some comfort), but it all felt real enough that I wanted to keep reading. Cricket felt very understandable to me, and the level of plausibility was just high enough to not make me want to throw the book across the room.

I can't wait to start handing this out to some of my kids. I know it will be right up their alley.

Review: Under The Dome

I am a devout Stephen King fanatic (I'm pretty sure I scare people off when I start talking about The Dark Tower). Or rather, I should say that I am a formerly devout Stephen King fanatic. Like many other Constant Readers (hi, Mom!), I have a predilection for his earlier stuff, which are all (for the most part) whole stories. It's the newer stuff that starts out strong, with lots of atmosphere and a huge cast of well-defined characters, but always end up devolving into a mush, leaving you feel left down. My mother and I now call these "Stephen King" endings, no matter who writes them.

I think I first noticed this with Cell, which starts out stronger than a lot of SK's books (perhaps only for Bostonians like me, though - how could we forget that first scene on Boylston Street and Arlington Street). The ending, though, left multitudes to be desired. And routinely, just about all his books that I've read since (Duma Key excluded) have stumbled sadly toward mediocrity.

And yet somehow, I keep coming back for more. With Stephen King, the journey is what matters (see? I can work Dark Tower into anything). I've come to mind the bad endings less and less, just enjoying the ride. I don't excuse them, but if I assume they're coming, I'll be less disappointed in the long run.

Case in point: Under The Dome. I've been meaning to read this since it was released, but its size kept pushing it down my list. But when I heard that the book was being turned into a mini series for CBS this June, written by Y: The Last Man author Brian K. Vaughan, I knew I had to get it read ASAP.

I opted for the audio book, since I was still a bit daunted by the size, and I had so many other physical books on my to-read stack. Somehow, 30 discs seemed more manageable than the book itself. And I surprised myself at how quickly I flew through them! I give full credit to Raul Esparza, who did an excellent job managing different voices for a huge cast of characters. It felt like I was listening to a whole cast reading the book instead of one man.

The book itself is typical latter-day King, rushed bad ending and all. I actually yelled at my radio when it the actual bad guy was revealed. But the journey to the bad ending was highly enjoyable, filled with twists, turns, and plenty of gore. I may have hated the ending, but I'm waiting not-so-patiently for the show to air next month.

24-Hour Read-a-thon - Hour 22

This hour
Book read: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg (finished!)
Pages read: 60
Time spent reading: 38 minutes
Food and drink consumed: 

Total
Books read: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, The Selection by Kiera Cass, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
Pages read: 814 (plus 1 1/2 disc)
Time spent reading: 9 hour 35 minutes

And I think, with that, I am done. I can barely keep my eyes open. Thank you, everyone, for a great readathon!!

24-Hour Read-a-thon - Hour 21

This hour
Book read: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
Pages read: 59
Time spent reading: 40 minutes
Food and drink consumed: butter waffle cookies from Trader Joe's

Total
Books read: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, The Selection by Kiera Cass, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
Pages read: 754 (plus 1 1/2 disc)
Time spent reading: 8 hour 57 minutes

24-Hour Read-a-thon - Hour 20

This hour
Book read: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
Pages read: 42
Time spent reading: 30 minutes
Food and drink consumed: berry seltzer

Total
Books read: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, The Selection by Kiera Cass, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
Pages read: 695 (plus 1 1/2 disc)
Time spent reading: 8 hour 17 minutes

24-Hour Read-a-thon - The Selection

So my major problem with the 24-hour read-a-thon is that sometimes you read a book that is SO GOOD, you don't want to muck it up by jumping right into another book. There's a quote from The Thirteenth Tale (which I don't even remember reading, but I must have, long ago, to have copied this quote down) that sums it up completely:

"All morning I struggled with the sensation of stray wisps of one world seeping through the cracks of another. Do you know the feeling when you start reading a new book before the membrane of the last one has had time to close behind you? You leave the previous book with ideas and themes -- characters even -- caught in the fibers of your clothes, and when you open the new book, they are still with you."

Having just completed The Selection by Kiera Cass, I am struggling with just those feelings. I don't have the second book in my hands right now, and even if I did, I fear that THAT much immersion in the world would leave me unsatisfied. But as of right now, I'm itching for more, and I can't possibly think what book I could settle on next.

I think all that needs to be said to sell this book is that it is a less violent Hunger Games mashed up with The Bachelor. I love the characters, especially narrator America (despite her name), and I'm having an even easier time making a decision on which boy she should pick than I did in Hunger Games (and I am firmly on Team Peeta). However, I also love that even America doesn't think it just is about which boy to choose. 

At least The Selection has gotten me worked up enough that I'm not really tired.

24-Hour Read-a-thon - Hour 19

This hour
Book read: The Selection by Kiera Cass (OH MY GOD THIS BOOK!)
Pages read: 79 
Time spent reading: 45 minutes
Food and drink consumed: 

Total
Books read: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, The Selection by Kiera Cass
Pages read: 653 (plus 1 1/2 disc)
Time spent reading: 7 hour 47 minutes

24-Hour Read-a-thon - Hour 18

This hour
Book read: The Selection by Kiera Cass (THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD!!!)
Pages read: 80 
Time spent reading: 50 minutes
Food and drink consumed: 

Total
Books read: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, The Selection by Kiera Cass
Pages read: 574 (plus 1 1/2 disc)
Time spent reading: 7 hour 2 minutes

Although I'm dying to finish The Selection and am wishing madly that I had the next book, The Elite, with me right now, I'm going to take a minute to participate in this hour's mini challenge, mostly because there is voting for awesome book covers there.

Read-a-thon Cover Me Mini Challenge - pick your favorite from each category!
1)Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls - I literally did a double take when I first saw that title.
2) Well, I'm pretty sure I'm obliged to say The Elite because of how much I'm LOVING The Selection right this minute.
3) My Mother's War - There's just something about old photographs that I love.
4) Bake It Like You Mean It - I have simply adored Gesine Bullock-Prado since I read her first book, and the combination of the hearts and the vertical stripes make me want to lick my screen.
5) I would usually always opt for a sock monkey, but LOOK AT THAT SLOTH!!!!!
6) I'll Take What She Has - That kid is literally flying!
7) Uh, dragons, hello. They could step on you.
8) I love the symmetry in the cover of Bodies of Subversion.
9) Hysteria - reminds me of Magritte's Rider in the Woods

24-Hour Read-a-thon - Hour 17

This hour
Book read: The Selection by Kiera Cass
Pages read: 71 
Time spent reading: 49 minutes
Food and drink consumed: delicious butter waffle cookies from Trader Joe's

Total
Books read: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, The Selection by Kiera Cass
Pages read: 494 (plus 1 1/2 disc)
Time spent reading: 6 hour 12 minutes

24-Hour Read-a-thon - Hour 16

This hour
Book read: The Selection by Kiera Cass
Pages read: 59 
Time spent reading: 38 minutes
Food and drink consumed:

Total
Books read: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, The Selection by Kiera Cass
Pages read: 423 (plus 1 1/2 disc)
Time spent reading: 5 hour 23 minutes

24-Hour Read-a-thon - Hour 15 and mid-event survey

This hour
Book read: The Selection by Kiera Cass
Pages read: 37 
Time spent reading: 30 minutes
Food and drink consumed: chocolate covered raisins

Total
Books read: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, The Selection by Kiera Cass
Pages read: 364 (plus 1 1/2 disc)
Time spent reading: 4 hour 45 minutes

Mid-Event Survey

1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired? Starting to get there, but I've only been reading for about 4 hours! So much left to go!
2) What have you finished reading? In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce and Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
3) What is your favorite read so far? I was surprised at how much I loved In the Hand of the Goddess. I can't wait to read more of the series!
4) What about your favorite snacks? The pizza I had for dinner was pretty damn good.
5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love! Not yet. I figure internet browsing will be a good way to keep me going in the wee hours.

24-Hour Read-a-thon - Diary of a Wimpy Kid

When I worked as a bookseller, I tended not to read the big hits (Hunger Games aside, but I read that long ago). Those books didn't need my help to fly off the shelf. So I never bothered to read any of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books.

As a librarian, however, my role is different. I need to know why something is popular, not just that it is. I spent the last hour plowing through the first Wimpy Kid book, and I can say I was pleasantly surprised. I even laughed out loud a couple times! I can definitely see why Kinney's books are so popular.

Will I read more in the series? Probably eventually, but I'm in no rush. I'm glad I read this one, though, so at least I can be more educated when kids tell me that they want something like this.

24-Hour Read-a-thon - Hour 14

This hour
Book read: Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (read the whole thing!)
Pages read: 217 
Time spent reading: 55 minutes
Food and drink consumed: just water

Total
Books read: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Pages read: 327 (plus 1 1/2 disc)
Time spent reading: 4 hour 15 minutes

24-Hour Read-a-thon - Hour 13

This hour
Book read: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce (finished it!)
Pages read: 21 
Time spent reading: 30 minutes
Food and drink consumed: just water

Total
Books read: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Pages read: 110 (plus 1 1/2 disc)
Time spent reading: 3 hour 20 minutes

24-Hour Read-a-thon: In The Hands of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce

I started the Song of the Lioness series a week or so ago as part of the YALSA Hub Challenge to read as many of the award nominated young adult books from this year as possible. Tamora Pierce was awarded the Edwards Award for the Song of the Lioness series, as well as the Protector of the Small series. I have seen these books a million times, but they never struck me as something I might want to read.

And while I enjoyed the first book, simply called Alanna, I really loved this one. Alanna, masquerading as Alan so she can train to become a knight, spent much of the first book just struggling to be accepted as a boy. She often got picked on or teased for being the smallest or weakest of the bunch of pages. In this book, however, she has clearly earned her place amongst the squires (the step up from pages), and she finally began to understand what it means to be a woman AND a man.

I kind of want to jump right into the next book in the series, but I might vary it up so I don't get bored.

24-Hour Read-a-thon - Hour 12

This hour
Book read: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce
Pages read: 30 
Time spent reading: 48 minutes
Food and drink consumed: some pizza with feta and olives. Holy salt rush!

Total
Books read: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Pages read: 89 (plus 1 1/2 disc)
Time spent reading: 2 hour 50 minutes

24-Hour Read-a-thon - Hour 11

I just made it home from work, and thanks to more traffic than usual on a Saturday, I got through most of a disc of Code Name Verity!

I am super excited to be home because now I can join in on the reading for real!!!

This hour
Book read: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Pages read: most of 1 disc
Time spent reading: 45 minutes
Food and drink consumed: a venti caramel macchiato - I need the fuel!

Total
Books read: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Pages read: 49 (plus 1 1/2 disc)
Time spent reading: 2 hour 10 minutes

24-Hour Read-a-thon - Hour 7

Yes, I know I missed hour 6... But at least I got some reading done on my lunch break!

This hour
Book read: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce
Pages read: 18
Time spent reading: 20 minutes
Food and drink consumed: lemon poppyseed muffin and honeydew melon, water

Total
Books read: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Pages read: 49 (plus 1/2 disc)
Time spent reading: 1 hour 25 minutes

Mini Challenge: Best and Worst Covers
This hour's reading challenge (my first of this read-a-thon!) is to pick a book that has one edition with an awesome cover and another with a terrible one. There are just so many out there like that - I would spend a lot of time while I was working in bookstore land laughing at bad covers.

But for this, I had to go with what is probably my favorite book - The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I can so clearly picture the first time I saw it, as I wandered the aisles of my local Barnes & Noble. There was a copy of it (trade size) on an endcap (I don't even know if there was a theme to the endcap), and it had a stunning photograph of an ancient Greek statue on it. I read the synopsis, which sounded interesting, but I mostly bought it because of that cover.

But while working as a bookseller, I came across the mass market edition from sometime in the '90s. Ye gods, this this is hideous! If I had seen this on the shelf first, there is NO. WAY. IN. HELL. I would have picked it up.

By the way, if you google image search this book, there are some other WAY cool covers out there. I don't know where they came from, because I can't find any links to editions with those covers, but they're pretty damn cool to see anyway. Maybe they're British editions?

24-Hour Read-a-thon - Hour 5

Oh, I so wish I could be reading along with all of you right now! I'm currently diligently working on my plans for summer reading for my teens. Apparently we've never had much success at my library with teen summer reading (for the smaller kids, it's HUGE), and I'm hoping I can bring some life to it this year.


Total
Books read: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Pages read: 29 (plus 1/2 disc)
Time spent reading: 1 hour 5 minutes

24-Hour Read-a-thon - Hour 4

This hour
Book read: Can I count my Baker & Taylor DVD and CD catalog? I pre-ordered Warm Bodies!
Pages read:
Time spent reading: 
Food and drink consumed: coffeeeeeee

Total
Books read: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Pages read: 29 (plus 1/2 disc)
Time spent reading: 1 hour 5 minutes

24-Hour Read-a-thon - Hour 3

On my way to work...

This hour
Book read: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Pages read: 1/2 disc
Time spent reading: 30 minutes
Food and drink consumed: handful of jellybeans

Total
Books read: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Pages read: 29 (plus 1/2 disc)
Time spent reading: 1 hour 5 minutes

24 Hour Read-a-thon - Hour 2

I managed to get a little reading in this morning. Sadly, I have to head off to work now. That means there'll be a little audiobook-ing in the car and some light reading on my lunch break, but I won't be back full-swing until after 5. I'll update before then if I have a moment. Good luck, everyone!

This hour
Book read: In The Hand Of The Goddess by Tamora Pierce
Pages read: 29
Time spent reading: 35 minutes
Food and drink consumed: Granola bar and seltzer water

Total
Books read: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce
Pages read: 29
Time spent reading: 35 minutes

Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon - Hour 1!

I am so excited to be taking part in the latest Dewey's 24-Hour Read-a-thon! It's a day when book lovers across the world devote 24 hours to nothing but reading (ok, and blogging about reading). These are my family :)

Introductory Questionnaire

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? I'm just outside Boston
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? Argh, you're going to make me choose?! I have pulled out ALL the books that I've been meaning to read for ages, so all of them have me excited for one reason or another. No, really, I can't choose.
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? I am ordering pizza for dinner. Haven't had good pizza in a long time!
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I'm a YA librarian in a small town in the far reaches of Boston suburbia. I also blog about food and crafts.
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to? I participated in one in 2008 and LOVED it! I guess I had just forgotten about it/been too busy in the intervening years. I'm really happy to be back!

Review: Personal Effects (Audio)

When I received a copy of Personal Effects by E.M. Kokie from Candlewick Press, I wasn't terribly excited to read about it. My usual tastes don't trend towards current day, real-life fiction, especially involving American soldiers. And so, the book sat on my shelf for months.

But when it showed up again on YALSA's 2013 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults, I was curious. I have an easier time with books I'm not terribly interested in if I listen to them instead (as long as the reader is good), so I thought it would be worth a try.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by this book! Matt, the narrator, is a troubled and troubling young man, and I spent much of the book just wanting to give him a hug. He's still reeling from the death of his brother, a soldier in Afghanistan, 7 months earlier, and when he comes across some letters in his brother's personal effects, he starts to wonder if he didn't know his brother as well as he thought.

The story itself meanders a bit, and there were a few too many "startling" revelations for me near the end. But the main plot line was compelling enough to keep me entertained (and even to sit in my car to finish a scene more than once).

The real winner here, though, is the reader of the audiobook. Finding readers who don't just read the story but add to it is hard; I've had some audiobooks that I've turned off immediately because the narrator was just ruining them. But Nick Podehl brings such life to Matt, along with the rest of the cast of characters, that the story felt that much more real and immediate to me. I doubt I would have enjoyed it as much if I had just read the story. 

This is definitely one to check out on audio.