Talking Books - Sloan is There

Sloan tells a wonderful story of hope and promise.  It is a little unbelievable, but that makes it all the more powerful.  A cross between Nancy Werlin's Rules of Survival  and Matthew Quick's Sorta Like a Rock Star, Sloan is able to create lovable characters that we cheer for the entire way.  The ability to survive falling down a mountain seems hard to believe, but surviving the childhood that the two main characters had makes the fall seem like just a small hurdle.  Once again as in many of this year's triumphs, music is that magic that binds everything together, like in Jennifer Donnelly's Revolution and Jessica Martinez's Virtuosity.  I guess when the Mayan calendar calls for the end of the universe everyone turns to music.  Thanks for being there Holly.  

Wow! I guess I should have known it was going to be awesome after all the reviews, but this was even better than the reviews.  A mix of Avatar and 1980s pop culture, Cline provides a walk through memory lane that comes alive with wonderful storytelling.  I think a hundred authors have attempted the 'virtual reality' gaming idea, but none have been able to tell such a enticing tale.  I don't know if it was that the characters were so likable or if he just knows how to create intrigue and suspense, but whatever 'it' is that makes Ready Player One the best book I have read in a couple years, I was sad to come to the end.  With all the trilogies out there, I thought maybe there would be a second novel, but the way it wrapped up, I am guessing not.  For those of you who can't get enough of it, don't worry, there appears to be a movie in the making.  Thundercats! Hooo!

Queen of Water

The scariest part of this story for me was how true it rang to my own experience.  I was in Ecuador in 1999 and behaved just like the tourists that Resau and Farinango describe.  I thought the indigenous part of the Ecuadorian culture was the coolest part.  The Incan part.  That was why I went to Ecuador in the first place.  To climb the mountains the indigenous called home, see the indigenous villages, and buy indigenous products, like hand sewn ponchos with condors on them.  The fact that there is such division between the indigenous and the mestizos was surprising.  It looked, from the outside, like the cultures had blended together seemlessly.  Now that I know this isn't true, I would like to return and take another look.  I guess I will need to learn Quichua to really see the other side.  The indigenous side.  The side that existed before the mestizo side.  The side that called Ecuador home a long time ago.  

Book Playing

I thought this was a beautiful story about love, competition and music.  Then near the end the author threw in a tumultuous plot development and the story went from romantic to sinister.  The malign act was the mother getting caught by her daughter in fixing the competition.  It immediately made me think of the Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding incident.  Has winning become so important in our society that fixing violin competitions is even a thought in an author's head.  When did we fall so low? It's absolutely disgusting. So many don't know how to win.  So many don't know how to lose.  So many think winning is the only thing.  So many have lost why we do things to begin with.  Why we run, sing, paint or whatever.  Writer's need to get published.  Athletes need to win.  What happened to, 'do your best'.  What happened to the intrinsic value of doing something you love.  I guess multi-million dollar competitions do that to people.  They make rich people with terrible character.  We need look no further than some of our favorite sports stars to see what the system we have created does to people.  

Book Talking

Wonderful perspective on the treatment of witches in the 19th century.  How much does mob mentality influence what we believe?  Can the frantic search for witches make all the girls in the community wonder if they are indeed themselves witches?  Briony thinks she can link herself with a death and a sickness, because she was wishing for those things to happen when she became angry.  Is she really responsible?

Book Talk

Spinelli always creates memorable characters and Stargirl achieves the same.  What a wonderful look at how things could be in high school.  Cheering for the other team could never happen in our current high schools, but just thinking about it made me smile.  What would have to change for our young people to be like that? What failures of our society does this one glimpse give? What ever happened to enjoying sport for the beauty of the game? Everything is about winning now and not just in sports.  That is why Stargirl's perspective is so intoxicating. 

Book Talk

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Samantha Kingston is given a strange opportunity after she is involved in a car accident that will eventually kill her.  She gets to relive the day she dies several times.  At first she tries to change events so that her death is avoided.  Then she understands that her chance isn't about saving herself, she is going to die, but it is about helping other people live their lives happily.  Really entertaining story.  Samantha is so evil at the beginning that I found it hard to believe I was hoping she would survive at the end.  Very dynamic character.