Booksaur: September 2011

Thursday, September 15, 2011

ReadIt1st.com


Dear Blog Viewers,

If you don't know about ReadIt1st, it's an idea that Hank Green of the Vlogbrothers came up with. Check it out and take the pledge if you think it's a good idea. It basically states:

I, ____ , do solemnly swear to read the book before I see the movie whenever humanly possible.

I think it's a great way to encourage people to read and discover the story the way it was meant to be told. Happy reading!

- Sarah

P.S. I apologize for being away. I'm leaving for college tomorrow and have been packing and cleaning out my room. Yeah yeah yeah :p Hope you're all doing well and reading some great books!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

August Reads: Wrap-Up

In which I discuss the books that I read for the month of August.


1. Tower of Parlen Min by Max Xell
    + Fun/exciting parts
    + Book had a great concept
    - The writing was a bit too descriptive

2. Blood Red Road by Moria Young
    + Best read of the month year (so far)
    + Dystopian novel that was refreshing
    + Couldn't put the book down!
    + Saba was an awesome protagonist (brave, strong, independent, suborn)

3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
   + Great writing style--simple and very much enjoyable
   + Dumbledore was a hilarious man
   + Loved the Ron, Hermonie, and Harry trio
   + Quidditch
4. Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky
   + Love how the book's world parallels our society
   +  Does a great job making you think
   + Justin makes you swoon
   + Very interesting read
   - The ending was a bit anticlimactic for me (see full review)

5. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
   + Even though I watched the movie first, this was still refreshing to read; the movie leaves out so much!
   + Harry's courage
   - *facepalm* the adults were too oblivious to Lockhart's lack of knowledge...

6. Shut Out by Kody Keplinger
   + Interesting premise
   + Entertaining short read
   - Characters were somewhat immature especially since they deal with sex
   - Love triangle wasn't really a love triangle (too obvious)

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Top 100 Most Popular YA Books

I found this list over at Book Briefs blog and she highlighted all the books that she has read from this list. This looked like fun so I thought I'd give it a go too. :)

This list has some pretty great books on it and I think my to-read list is about to burst open.... I have way to many and here I am adding more. And feel free to do this too I'm curious to see what everyone has/hasn't read so far (it's pretty fun skimming other lists). :D

Gosh... I really need to read more lol. I didn't read many books that were on this list... but enjoy!

The books that I have read are highlighted below.
- pink = Enjoyed
- blue = Didn't enjoy so much
- bold = WANT to read
  1. Alex Finn – Beastly
  2. Alice Sebold – The Lovely Bones Great book
  3. Ally Carter – Callagher Girls (1, 2, 3, 4)
  4. Ally Condie – Matched
  5. Alyson Noel – The Immortals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
  6. Anastasia Hopcus – Shadow Hills
  7. Angie Sage – Septimus Heap (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
  8. Ann Brashares – The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (1, 2, 3, 4)
  9. Anna Godbersen – Luxe (1, 2, 3, 4)
  10. Anthony Horowitz – Alex Rider (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
  11. Aprilynne Pike – Wings (1, 2, 3)
  12. Becca Fitzpatrick – Hush, Hush (1, 2)
  13. Brandon Mull – Fablehaven (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
  14. Brian Selznick – The Invention of Hugo Cabret
  15. Cassandra Clare – The Mortal Instruments (1, 2, 3, 4)
  16. Carrie Jones – Need (1, 2, 3)
  17. Carrie Ryan – The Forest of Hands and Teeth (1, 2, 3, 4)
  18. Christopher Paolini – Inheritance (1, 2, 3, 4)
  19. Cinda Williams Chima – The Heir Chronicles (1, 2, 3)
  20. Colleen Houck – Tigers Saga (1, 2)
  21. Cornelia Funke – Inkheart (1, 2, 3)
  22. Ellen Hopkins – Impulse
  23. Eoin Colfer – Artemis Fowl (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
  24. Faraaz Kazi – Truly, Madly, Deeply
  25. Frank Beddor – The Looking Glass Wars (1, 2, 3)
  26. Gabrielle Zevin – Elsewhere
  27. Gail Carson Levine – Fairest
  28. Holly Black – Tithe (1, 2, 3)
  29. J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) Yes, I still didn't finish the series. Currently on #3.
  30. James Dashner – The Maze Runner (1, 2) First book was a fun adventure/mystery. Second book, the ending left me SO confused...
  31. James Patterson – Maximum Ride (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
  32. Jay Asher – Thirteen Reasons Why
  33. Jeanne DuPrau – Books of Ember (1, 2, 3, 4)
  34. Jeff Kinney – Diary of a Wimpy Kid (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
  35. John Boyne – The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
  36. John Green – An Abundance of Katherines I loved Hassan!
  37. John Green – Looking for Alaska Definitely one of my favorite books of all time.
  38. John Green – Paper Towns
  39. Jonathan Stroud – Bartimaeus (1, 2, 3, 4)
  40. Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl – Caster Chronicles (1, 2)
  41. Kelley Armstrong – Darkest Powers (1, 2, 3)
  42. Kristin Cashore – The Seven Kingdoms (1, 2)
  43. Lauren Kate – Fallen (1, 2, 3)
  44. Lemony Snicket – Series of Unfortunate Events (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
  45. Libba Bray – Gemma Doyle (1, 2, 3)
  46. Lisa McMann – Dream Catcher (1, 2, 3)
  47. Louise Rennison – Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
  48. M.T. Anderson – Feed I loved the premise but I just couldn't get used to the writing style and it dragged a lot in the middle. Loved the ending though really different from typical dystopians.
  49. Maggie Stiefvater – The Wolves of Mercy Falls (1, 2, 3)
  50. Margaret Peterson Haddix – Shadow Children (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
  51. Maria V. Snyder – Study (1, 2, 3)
  52. Markus Zusak – The Book Thief
  53. Markus Zusak – I am the Messenger
  54. Mark Haddon – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
  55. Mary Ting – Crossroads
  56. Maureen Johnson – Little Blue Envelope (1, 2)
  57. Meg Cabot – All-American Girl (1, 2) Read this way back and had no idea there was a sequel.
  58. Meg Cabot – The Mediator (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
  59. Meg Cabot – The Princess Diaries (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) Picked this up in middle school and remember not finishing it.
  60. Meg Rosoff – How I live now
  61. Megan McCafferty – Jessica Darling (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
  62. Megan Whalen Turner – The Queen’s Thief (1, 2, 3, 4)
  63. Melina Marchetta – On the Jellicoe Road
  64. Melissa de la Cruz – Blue Bloods (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
  65. Melissa Marr – Wicked Lovely (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
  66. Michael Grant – Gone (1, 2, 3, 4) I am a Gone series fan :D
  67. Nancy Farmer – The House of the Scorpion
  68. Neal Shusterman – Unwind This is a A+++ loved it so much and excited for the sequel!
  69. Neil Gaiman – Coraline
  70. Neil Gaiman – Stardust
  71. Neil Gaiman – The Graveyard Book
  72. P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast – House of Night (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) 
  73. Philip Pullman – His Dark Materials (1, 2, 3)
  74. Rachel Caine – The Morganville Vampires (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
  75. Rachel Cohn & David Levithan – Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
  76. Richelle Mead – Vampire Academy (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) Have the 6th one sitting on my shelf staring back at me. I think I'm avoiding it because I don't want the series to end!
  77. Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson and the Olympians (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
  78. Rom LcO’Feer – Somewhere carnal over 40 winks
  79. S.L. Naeole – Grace (1, 2, 3, 4)
  80. Sabrina Bryan & Julia DeVillers – Princess of Gossip
  81. Sarah Dessen – Along for the Ride
  82. Sarah Dessen – Lock and Key
  83. Sarah Dessen – The Truth about Forever
  84. Sara Shepard – Pretty Little Liars (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
  85. Scott Westerfeld – Leviathan (1, 2)
  86. Scott Westerfeld – Uglies (1, 2, 3) I really enjoyed this series. Read it back in middle school at the time.
  87. Shannon Hale – Books of a Thousand Days
  88. Shannon Hale – Princess Academy
  89. Shannon Hale – The Books of Bayern (1, 2, 3, 4)
  90. Sherman Alexie & Ellen Forney – The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
  91. Simone Elkeles – Perfect Chemistry (1, 2, 3) Need to get the 3rd one!
  92. Stephanie Meyer – The Host 
  93. Stephanie Meyer – Twilight Saga (1, 2, 3, 4) 
  94. Sue Monk Kidd – The Secret Life of Bees
  95. Susan Beth Pfeffer – Last Survivors (1, 2, 3)
  96. Suzanne Collins – Hunger Games (1, 2, 3) This should be at least #5 O_O
  97. Suzanne Collins – Underland Chronicles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
  98. Terry Pratchett – Tiffany Aching (1, 2, 3, 4)
  99. Tonya Hurley – Ghost Girl (1, 2, 3)
  100. Wendelin Van Draanen – Flipped

Friday, September 2, 2011

Sweetly by Jackson Pearce (Fairytale Retellings #2)

Sweetly
by Jackson Pearce
Pages: 312
Released: August 23, 2011
Sweetly
Summary: Twelve years ago, three siblings were roaming the forest in search of a witch. Witches don't exist... right ? Or so they thought. The next thing you know, they're being chased out in the forest by a pair of yellow eyes. After making it through the trees and to their home they get inside, shut the door, and face their parents... "Where's your sister?"
---
Fast forward twelve years, Ansel is 19 and Gretchen is 18, and they're moving across the country to South Carolina where the promise of beaches will help them escape their past. Along the way, their car breaks down and they need money to repair it. Ansel ends up finding work from a woman named Sophia Kelly who is either the patron saint of candy or the first sign of Live Oak's end days. There is something sketchy about her and Gretchen is determined to find out what it is.

My Thoughts: An interesting modern retelling of Hansel and Gretel.

What I liked: My favorite thing about this book is the sibling bond between Ansel and Gretchen. It is so strong because of what they went through and I love how they always put each other first. It was honest, real, and Pearce does an excellent job with this. I also liked how it followed Hansel and Gretel, but then branched out creating its own plot with several twists. Gretchen developed so much in this book. In the beginning, she started out as this girl that was dealing with the loss of her sister and everything that went on in her past and then as the story progressed she became a strong willed fighter with a determined mindset. Then of course you have the action sequence that takes place and it is awesome! The descriptions that she uses and the way that it plays out was just marvelous.

What I disliked: Okay, back to her first book in the series. Sisters Red was very refreshing, everything seemed new and I loved how original it was (yes, original even though it's based off a fairytale). With Sweetly however, I felt as though I've read the story before, the storyline and the elements (e.g. climax, setup, the events that book place, etc.) had all be done before in Sisters Red except this was with different characters so it wasn't as new and exciting for me, but it was still a fun story to read.

Conclusion: If you liked Sisters Red, you'll enjoy this one. Even though I liked Sisters Red more, I think you should still give this a read and I'm excited to check out the next book in the series.

4/5 stars

Source: Library.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

New YA Releases: SEPTEMBER 2011

Here are some YA books I'm highly anticipating for the month of September.

Sept. 5
by Karen Healey

The main character goes through a lot in this book and issues seem pretty complex. Awesome cover!






Sept. 20
by Rae Carson
Sounds like a fun fantasy book with a strong female protagonist.








Sept. 27
by Kiki Hamilton

Tiki steals a faerie ring that sets off a chain of events and it takes place in the year 1871. A faerie story in the 1800s? Count me in!
by Laini Taylor

Reviews have said the writing style is astonishing, need to check it out.





by Anne Ursu

A Hansel & Gretel retelling (yay!). Heard it was great and love the cover.





by Michelle Hodkin









Sept. 29
by Stephanie Perkins 
 
This is self explanatory. If you've read Anna & the French Kiss you'll need to check this one out. I heard it's even better than Anna crazy right? 






by Maureen Johnson

Never have I ever... read a Maureen Johnson book. I hear her writing is wonderful and the storyline sounds refreshing.