KABOOM! Book Post.

Yeah, I've been a way for a while. Between vacations and partying and stuff, I haven't had time to post. But that's okay because now I've got a whole STACK of books to talk about! Awesome, right? Or tedious. Depends on whether you're the reader or the blogger.

1. 13 Ghostly Tales by Freya Littledale. It's actually a compilation of tales, and the "author" actually edited. Plus this book was written in 1959. YEAH, IT'S 50 YEARS OLD. Which means... my copy is pretty beat up.

As you can see from this picture, there's no covers. It's merely a stack of paper bound together by what remains of the cover, that strip down the middle. I remember reading this book when I was 6 and it had a pink cover that was barely hanging on, and I vaguely remember the cover falling off (but not being the one who caused it), but I don't remember where it went.

And also, this book HAS NO END. That's the only scary part; in truth, the stories are meant to scare kindergarteners. Which explains why I first read it when I was seven. But yeah, it gets up to page 90, in the middle of the last story, and BOOM! no ending. I was ticked. I think this book, just for not ending, wins the award of Second Most Messed Up Book In This Post. (The first wins by a long shot.)

2. Night's Child by Cate Tiernan. FINALLY, I finished the Sweep series! It's been three years but I finally finished them all. And the ending was really good, I was surprised.

Of course, I thought I was going to HATE the book when, in the PROLOGUE, they killed off one of my favorite characters. But the book takes place in Ireland with the main character, who is 18 in all the previous books, is a mother herself and her daughter is discovering their secret past.

Fortunately this book redeemed itself at the end. Great ending in all fields, so I loved it. And the author's knowledge of Wicca (the concept the book is based around) is really thorough, and it adds to the reality of the book. Of course, I'm no Wiccan expert, so she could be lying through her teeth, but the series feels really true. Good book. =)

3. No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman. I've had my eye on this one since like 8th grade (the library TA days... good times) and I finally checked it out and read it! It's definitely a kids' book, and a bit farfetched seeing as all this drama (literally DRAMA, the book takes place around a school play) is happening in middle school. I don't know about your middle school, but we didn't have football teams, full-scale drama productions, and backstabbing boyfriend-grabbers at good ol' WSMS. (Sure, we had fights, and the occasional bomb threat, but that was all hushed up. I'm talking DRAMA.)

The book starts with this kid who tells the truth, even if it hurts, because his dad lied to his mom so he kind of makes up for it in a perverse, psychological way. He gets suspended from football because he won't lie in his book report; he lets the teacher know how much the book sucks. (In the book he reported on, the dog died, hence the title.) So he gets sentenced to detention helping the drama department put on a play instead of football.

This, of course, causes of feud of GLOBAL MIDDLE SCHOOL PROPORTIONS between the drama geeks and the football players. It gets intense. It also shows you how caught up we kids get in our own little problems.

Julia Roberts also makes a cameo in this book, just letting you know. The head drama geek in this book, Rachel (ironically like Rachel from Glee, to a tee) writes to Julia Roberts for advice. Yeah. They're that kind of middle schoolers.

4. Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have by Allen Zadoff.
This book was really touching, just it sucks because in the end not much has changed in his life. It isn't one of those books where the fat kid loses the weight; rather, the author kind of focuses on another aspect, self-confidence. Andy figures out where his place in life is, and while not a lot changes on the outside, his whole outlook changes on the inside.

And while this book cracked me up, it had a lot of sad scenes where I was cringing for this poor kid. Still really good... not NEARLY bad enough to merit the Most Messed Up Book In This Post award.

The best friend, Eytan (funky name), is AWESOME. Best character in the book. He's hilarious, he's witty, he's scrawny and nerdy, he's my kind of character. Think Ben from Paper Towns. Gotta love characters like that!

Now on to the grand finale.

5. Burned by Ellen Hopkins.


THIS is the book that wins the title of Most Messed Up Book in this Post. It's also Most Unique, because it's one of those books written completely in narrative poetry. Now I read Crank and Glass and they were both like that too, and I really like the style. It really adds to the story and I don't know if I'd enjoy the book as much otherwise.

The problem is, THIS STORY IS MESSED UP. This girl, Pattyn (named for a general) Von Stratton, is Mormon and her dad's INSANE. He goes nuts on the whole "woman's role" thing and gets drunk every night, wreaking havoc on Pattyn's mother, her sisters, and herself. So Pattyn becomes a rebel, starts dating non-Mormon guys, and gets herself kicked out of her house... to her amazing aunt's house!

Aunt J. is everything she hoped for, a lady who believes in freedom and choice and independence, everything Pattyn's been denied thus far. And for a while, everything's good. Then things get-- that's right-- MESSED UP.

I'm not going to elaborate on the plot, just let me say that after I was finished with this book, I was collapsed on my bed, drowning in tears, wailing "WHY did I read this stupid book if it was going to END that way?" GOD it was so sad. Just a warning. AMAZING book, but it's heartbreaking. Trust me, it takes a lot to make me cry over a book. It takes a death of Harry Potter proportions. =)

And that's my reading from... December 26th to now. Of course, I'm STILL trying to finish Pride and Prejudice on my Kindle, but I'll talk about that later. Enough posting for now.