Autumn Reads: Book Nine {A Christmas Blizzard}

My Goodreads review of this book says: "I wish I could go back in time and not read this book or spend any money on it. Worst Christmas story ever. No plot, no point, and the writing was unbearable to read."

Needless to say, this review will probably be short, because that up there? The best review I can give for this book.

I picked it up for two reasons:

1) I wanted to read a Christmas story around Christmas. I knew I was going to be reading A Christmas Carol by Dickens, but I wanted something a little more modern - and the only modernish Christmas stories out there seem to be romance novels. And that's not what I was looking for.

2) The cover said it was a satirical version of A Christmas Carol. Some even went as far to say as it made Dickens' classic seem unimaginative. If I were British I would say: "bollocks!" But, since I'm not, and saying that would be quite pretentious of me, I'll just go with: "bull!"

Long story short: James Sparrow is a young, rich man who hates Christmas. His wife loves Christmas. They live in a sky rise apartment in Chicago. James also fails completely at life: he failed at all of his ambitions, his current job is about to meet a particularly rocky end, and his wife wants to see the Nutcracker (despite being completely stricken with the flu) while James wants to hide from Christmas in Hawaii. James receives a call that his favorite Uncle is dying, so he flies out to South Dakota to spend time with the man. He finds himself trapped in SD with his crazy relatives amidst a huge snowstorm. Intelligently, instead of staying at a relative's house, he opts to stay in an old fishing shack that belonged to his deceased brother-in-law. Cue a bunch of figures who usher him towards an epiphany about the season.

Sounds good, doesn't it?

Yeah, I thought so too. A nice, simple, grumpy Scrooge learns the meaning of Christmas.

But, really, not.

This book was awful and I nearly put it down for good a number of times. (Times like these make me wish I didn't have a compulsion to finish every book I start. I always hope the ones I don't like early on will have some sort of redeeming quality by the end.) The writing was atrocious. Keillor tried to be flashy, verbose, and controversial - but failed most of the times. It was just a boring book, predictable, with no real plot or point.

Like I said earlier, I wish I could go back in time and tell my former self not to waste my money.

Title: A Christmas Blizzard

Author: Garrison Keillor

Genre: Satire

Medium: Paperback

Pages: 192

Date Read: 4 December 2012

First Line: It was an old familiar nightmare, the one about men in black hoods chasing him through tall grass toward the precipice overlooking jagged rocks and great greenish waves rolling and crashing in the abyss where sharks with chainsaw teeth awaited and the great black buzzards hung in the air and there he was sliding sliding toward extinction and then Mr. Sparrow woke up to a song emanating from somewhere close to the bed - "When he plays his drum, pa-rum-pum-pum-pum, Let's break his thumbs."

Recommended: Not really. Not at all. Read at your own risk.

Recommended For: Fans of Garrison Keillor

Source: Purchased, December 2012

Autumn Reads: Book Eight {Guilty Pleasures}

This book was a total guilty pleasure for me (pun completely intended). I'm not an avid reader of the Anita Blake series, but from time to time I'll see one of them and just want to read it. So, why not? Right? It adds variety into my reading schedule. With this one I decided I wanted to see where the famous series started. You see, it's one of the things I really like about this series - you can pick up any book and enjoy it on its own merit. Sure, it's nice to read them in order and get all the pieces of the backstory, but it's not necessary. Kind of like a sitcom - it's best if you watch them in order because you get everything, but if you watch them out of order you can still enjoy it.

So, with Guilty Pleasures we're introduced to Miss Anita Blake, animator and vampire hunter. Anita is a tiny woman - both in size and in stature. But, nevertheless, she is a necromancer and a vampire hunter. And a good one at that. Vampires know her as the Executioner, and her reputation precedes her everywhere she goes. What's weird about this book, as the first of a series, is that you really don't get any backstory. Which is kind of what I was expecting. Laurell K. Hamilton just drops us off, page one, into Anita's life. Which, while unexpected was sort of cool. You got to know Anita as she went about her day to day, crazy, paranormal-filled life. 

Vampires are protected by law - their executions are required to have a court order and those are only issued when the vampires are behaving extraordinarily badly. However, when innocent vampires (old, powerful ones) are found dead around the city, Anita agrees to help sort out the problem. It takes some convincing by the Master of the City (Nickolaos, a 1,000 year old vampire - who was made into a vampire at the young age of 10), but Anita resolves to solve the crimes. Despite agreeing to help Nickolaos, Anita doesn't trust her a bit. 

The second most powerful vampire in the city is a handsome gentleman named Jean Claude has an interest in Anita beyond her necromancer powers. Anita, resistant to the possessive powers of vampires,  isn't interested. But their paths are interwoven and Anita cannot help but work with Jean Claude. Jean Claude owns a club called Guilty Pleasures, and this becomes the home base for Anita's exploration of the vampire deaths. It's an action-packed first book of a series with a fair number of twists and turns. 

I enjoyed this book. Was it great literature? Not really. But it was enjoyable and served that purpose very well. I think, as with a lot of series, Hamilton started to hit her stride a few books further into the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. She really gets into Anita's head and adds on more intriguing characters and wraps them into a believable, interesting world. Will I read it again? Probably not, but I'm glad I read it. I do love seeing "the beginning" of a series. 

Title: Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #1)

Author: Laurell K. Hamilton

Genre: Paranormal Romance, Vampire,

Medium: Soft Cover

Pages: 266

Date Read: 29 November 2012

First Line: Willie McCoy had been a jerk before he died.

Favorite Line: Never criticize, unless you can do a better job.

Recommended: It's always nice to see where a series begins, particularly when it's a series that you can pick up and enjoy at any place. This was an first book, and I enjoyed it. If you like a strong kick-butt female character, vampires, other paranormal stuff, and a whole lot of butt-kicking.

Recommended For: High School +, Paranormal lovers, Those in need of a little seriously fluff

Source: Purchased in TN, October 2012

Autumn Reads: Book Seven {The Capture}

A friend of mine gave me this book to borrow because a) her kids love it, and b) she uses it for one of her classes on Language and Literacy development and all of her students love it as well. With some parallels to Harry Potter and other assorted YA novels in history, she knew that I would adore this book - no matter its intended target group. Because, really? Who decides those anyways?

The Capture, by Kathryn Lasky, is a book about owls. And it's also a classic tale of good versus evil and the hero mythology that usually accompanies that. 

The Capture is the first book in the series called The Guardians of Ga'Hoole. You are introduced to Soren, a young barn owl who is the main hero of the series. At the beginning of the book Soren is pushed out of his nest by his bother - a horrible fate for a young, flightless owl. While on the forrest floor, trying to figure out how to survive the night, Soren is grabbed by a mysterious bird who brings him to a school called St. Aggies. 

At St. Aggies orphaned (or, rather, snatched) owlets are brought together and trained. Soren, along with his newfound friend Gylfie suspect that St. Aggies is more than a school, but instead a sort of training camp that brainwashes the young owls to aide the plans of the headmistress. Soren and Gylfie, along with some help along the way, are determined to figure out just what the school is intended for and to escape the brainwashing for good. 

The Capture, while intended for young readers, is an excellent story. The characters are intriguing, the rituals described are creative, and the plot is captivating. I was rooting for Soren through it all. I'm really glad it was recommended to me - both because I enjoyed it, but also because now I get to enjoy the conversations with my friend's kids. They're really into it and it's fun to hear (and understand!) their thoughts on the book and the series. It's a great book to read with kids as well as they eat up the characters and the plot. 

I would totally recommend this book to anyone - and have received a few strange looks from some when they realize the age level of the book. Just because something is an easy read doesn't mean it's not worth reading. Look at how popular YA novels are - and no one is turned off because they're targeted to teens. Why should younger books be different? Read it, and then try and tell me it wasn't worth it. :) 

Title: The Capture (Guardians of Ga'Hoole #1)

Author: Kathryn Lasky

Genre: Fantasy, Young Reader

Medium: Paperback 

Pages: 222

Date Read: 22 November 2012

First Line: Noctus, can you spare a little more down, darling?

Favorite Line: Legends were not only for the desperate. Legends were for the brave. 

Recommended: Of course! It may be a kids book, but it's an excellent kids book. 

Recommended For: 9+ - but don't let that deter you if you're not still in elementary school. This book is well worth the read!

Source: Borrowed from a friend!

Autumn Reads: Book Six {The Five People You Meet in Heaven}

Oh, Mitch. I wanted to give you another chance after Tuesdays With Morrie, I really did. Particularly because reviews (both from friends and online) said that this one was better than your last. It was good, I'll give you that, but it was just lacking something (or maybe it had too much, I don't really know).

The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a story, as the first line of the book tells us, about a man named Eddie who has just passed away in a freak roller-coaster accident at the amusement park he has worked at since he was a kid. He is crushed by a falling roller-coaster cart while saving a little girl who was in danger of being crushed herself (in fact, Mitch spends the whole story trying to learn if his last act, his heroic dead, was successful). He is rough around the edges, has a crooked nose, walks with a limp from a wound suffered in Vietnam, and has lived (according to him) quite the uninspiring life. Mediocre at best.

And then he dies. The premise of Albom's afterlife is simple: Heaven is not a destination, not a single, solitary place. Instead, when you die you are introduced to five people who's life either impacted yours, you impacted theirs, or both. And they have something to tell you about both of your lives. This is all done to answer the one most important question to humanity: Why Am I Here? Heaven provides you with an answer.

So Eddie goes along and meets his five people who share their stories with Eddie and he learns that maybe his life wasn't as mediocre or banal as he originally thought. One by one they illuminate parts of their lives and how their stories were interwoven with Eddie's own story. Slowly Eddie learns that we're not alone in our lives in the world; we're all interconnected - even when we don't realize it.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this book. It is a clever look at the age-old question of what happens when you die? The book was simple (perhaps too simple) and constructed in a way that I was right their with Eddie - as his life was illuminated through flashbacks, wanting to know if he saved the girl, all of it. I was rooting for him. But it just has the same basic problems that I felt when I read Morrie. My emotions were being manipulated and Albom wanted a pat on the back for his efforts. It's simple and because of that it beats you over the head with his moral of how we're all connected. I guess in the end I was a little disappointed. I was just hoping to see Albom write with a little more depth and a thicker plot or story line.

It was an easy read. It was a neat take on the afterlife. I'm glad I read it, but I'm glad I didn't pay anything for it!

Title: The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Author: Mitch Albom

Medium: Hardcover

Pages: 196

Date Read: 20 November 2012

First Line: This is a story about a man named Eddie and it begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun.

Favorite Line: All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time.

Last Line: And in that line now was a whiskered old man, with a linen cap and a crooked nose, who waited in a place called the Stardust Band Shell to share his part of the secret of heaven: that each affects the next, and the world is full of stories, but the stories are all one. {Whited out, for spoiler's sake}

Recommended: It's a cheesy read, so if you need something quick and heartbreaking, go for it. I'd borrow it, not buy it though.

Recommended For: High School +, People who need a good cry;

Source: Mom's Books

Autumn Reads: Book Five {Light Boxes}

This book has to rank as the most different book I've read this year. Meaning, I've really never read anything like it before. And it was interesting and refreshing.

Light Boxes, by Shane Jones, is a contemporary fable set in a close-knit town where the month of February is eternal. It is a plague of cold and grey and snow and there is no happiness. The sun is only a distant memory. There is also no flying of any kind - it has been eradicated and banned. Banned by the personification of February who lives in a room in the sky. This ban is enforced by a gaggle of priests who wander around the town with axes, destroying everything in violation of February.

Children have also gone missing. Adults become almost (if not completely) catatonic with the endless days of February dragging on and on. The protagonist/narrator, Thaddeus, has lost his daughter, Bianca, and his wife Selah to February. Thaddeus, at times, flies a contraband kite with his daughter to try and keep the memory of flight and happiness alive.

Eventually Thaddeus, with the help of a group of people in strange colored bird masks, gathers a group of townspeople to try and oust February and the gloom that has consumed them for far too long. They declare war on February. Determined to bring his reign to an end and to let happiness and flight and color and good back into their lives.

Jones has masterfully crafted an interesting and surreal little novel. This books is more than regular words on a page. Jones crafts each page with care and intention - changing fonts, text sizes, and style. Some pages contain lists. Some contain solitary words. Some have whole paragraphs of writing.

Every detail of this book is intended and every detail serves a purpose.

It's impressive, really.

I also will never look at February the same again, for fear of it never ending.

The story, though considered to be a contemporary fable, is not your traditional fable. It is a strange book, and I mean that with the highest of praise for strange. It is morose, and tender, and loving, and imaginative, and sad, and moving, and so much more. It's interesting. And it's well worth the read.

Author: Shane Jones

Medium: Paperback

Pages: 149

Date Read: 15 November 2012 

Favorite Line: I'm so confused it almost feels calm.

Recommended: Yeah, it's a quick read and interesting. Very different from everything else I've read too.

Recommended For: High School + to fully appreciate it, but I suspect Middle School kids could like it too; If you're looking for something different;

Autumn Reads: Book Four {The Night Circus}

{Note, I will be posting a few of these 2012 reviews a day as the year winds up. Need to get caught up for 2013!}

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is a beautiful book. This, like A Discovery of Witches, is the book I wish I wrote. I loved every bit of this book - and it's so much more than it seems.

There is a circus that rolls into the fields at the outskirts of a town without any warning or prior notice given. It sets up, stays for a number of days, and rolls away with just as little warning. Everything in the circus - from the tents to the costumes to the foods - is in black and white. It is not a traditional circus. While it has acrobats and magicians and animals, that's about where the parallels end. The tents each house magical and wondrous acts of magic and awe. No visit is the same as the next. It is a unique experience full of amazement and breathtaking sights.

Behind the scenes, however, is another story entirely. There is a great dual underway between two amazing magicians who have been trained since birth by two fervent competitors. What the two competitors, Celia and Marco, do not know is that only one of them will survive the competition and be declared victor. However, neither of them knows the rules or the boundaries - all they know is the circus is their stage. The pair soon tumble head over heels in love and set off a string of events and consequences that are felt throughout those in connection with the circus - everything that they value and love are held in the balance of their competition. 

It's not all about Celie and Marco, though. There are so many other characters (15, to be exact) and story lines beside them that are just as amazing. There are the twins that are born as soon as the circus opens. There is Bailey, the boy who loves the circus more than anything. There is Frederick who makes the magical clock for the Circus's courtyard and starts the Reveures. There are just so many things going on but it all works so well. 

Besides all this, there is one major detail that you have to know. This is a book about a thing; the Cirque de Reves. The people in the book are important, but only as how they relate to the Circus. The Circus takes on so many amazing characteristics throughout the book that you feel like you're there and experiencing it first hand. The way that Morgenstern crafts every chapter, every character. It makes everything about this place feel like it's right there in front of you - and you're so disappointed when you can't actually reach out and touch it. 

The other thing is that it's not a love story. Sure, there is a love story. But the book is not about the love story. It's about the circus. Like I just mentioned. Don't expect to get swept off your feet in a torrent of romance from the moment you crack open the book (mostly because we meet our little lovebirds when they're children and don't have the faintest clue about the other person). Their romance is sweet and lovely and all that, but the book is about the Circus. Don't forget that.

It does take a little bit to get completely engrossed in the book, I will be honest. Maybe 50 pages or so? But once you get past those pages you won't be able to put it down. It's just there's so much to set up, so many stages to set, so many people to introduce, and a Circus to create. The book spans over a decade, and flits between different times with each chapter - going back and forth between the then, the kinda then, the closer to now, and the (amazingly wonderful) now when you (yes, YOU!) are at the Circus. 

Like I said at the beginning: I wish I wrote this book. Or maybe not, because then I wouldn't be able to experience it as a reader, and that would have been a shame. 

Go on, you'll love it. Promise. 

Author: Erin Morgenstern

Medium: Soft Cover

Pages: 516

Date Read: 14 November 2012

First Line: The circus arrives without warning.

Favorite Line: Life takes us to unexpected places sometimes. The future is never set in stone, remember that.

Last Line: You are no longer quite certain which side of the fence is the dream. [Whited out, for spoiler's sake]

Recommended: With 100% certainty that anyone, and everyone, will love every page.

Recommended For: Everyone whose life has a need of a little more magic. But, probably at least somewhere in High School to appreciate everything that Morgenstern has done with this novel. If you liked The Time Traveller's Wife or any other books by Niffeneggar, you'll like Morgenstern too, I'm sure of it.   

Autumn Reads: Book Three {Tuesdays With Morrie}

{Note, I will be posting a few of these 2012 reviews a day as the year winds up. Need to get caught up for 2013!}

I have a like/hate/indifferent relationship with this book. Let's start there.

Mortality is a an interesting character, isn't it? Mitch Albom sees a TV special on an old, beloved professor who is dying from Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS) and feels guilty for loosing contact over the years. Knowing he had very little time to reconnect with Morrie, Albom starts a weekly (Tuesday afternoon, the same time they had office hours together when Albom was at Brandeis) visit with him. During these visits Morrie imparts his dying wisdom on the young man - his "final class" as Morrie liked to call the sessions.

These lessons deal with all aspects of life and love. He focuses on all the things that really matter in life and how, though everyone says it all the time, we ought to make them the focus of our life. Morrie was an exuberant man - with a love of education, good food, and dancing. In his eyes life is about finding happiness and love and holding on to those tight and never letting go. All the messages (or "classes") Morrie gives are poignant and important - and something that everyone thinks about. It's a story about the last months of a man's life (as well as flashbacks to important moments of his life) as told by a student of his - someone who loved him dearly.

Everyone has that professor (or that teacher, or that boss, etc) that was the game changer. A mentor who altered the course of your life with a few well said words and an extra ounce of faith. I know I did. I know most of my friends did. It's remarkable how important having someone other than your parents believe in you (and having your parent's believe in you is way important too. I, for one, would be nowhere near where I am today without the belief of my parents). So, this book is intended to pull at those heartstrings. It was also designed to get you to write an email to that person and reconnect with them.

But it was just so in-your-face about the whole thing that it lost its realness to me. I felt like Albom was smug and looking at me with this look how awesome I am! I visited an old dying man! And that got annoying really quickly. It made reading the book a weird combination of emotions: because I loved Morrie and hated Albom. I didn't want to read about Albom patting himself on the back, I wanted to learn more about Morrie and his life and his dancing.

So, let's just go with: it was a quick and easy read and it got me thinking. So that's a few plusses for it. But it was also really annoying to hear Albom pat himself on the back for being such a sensitive former pupil every five pages. I enjoyed it, but that's about it.

Author: Mitch Albom

Medium: Hardcover

Pages: 192

Date Read: 29 October 2012

First Line: The last class of my old professor's life took a place once a week in his house, by a window in the study where he could watch a small hibiscus plant shed its pink leaves. 

Favorite Line: Death ends life, not a relationship.

Last Line: A teacher until the end. [whited out, for spoiler's sake]

Recommended: If you can get your hands on a copy without paying for it (library, friend, etc). Like I said, it is a quick and easy read that will give you a little to think over. So, if you have the free time...

Recommended For: Middle School +, Anyone who has ever had an important/memorable mentor

Autumn Reads: Book Two {American Gods}

{Note, I will be posting a few of these a day as the year winds up. I really want to get all my 2012 reviews up - because I was really lacking on these - before 2013 and all the challenges I am participating in kick into gear. Otherwise, the 2012 books won't get reviewed on the blog (the challenges require reviews), and really? I'd love to share my books with you all. So, bear with me and the multiple book posts a day. They won't interfere with regular posts either, there will be those as well. Promise}

This was my first experience with Neil Gaiman in book form. I've watched Stardust and Coraline, but never cracked open one of his books before. And I've been told many, many times that I would love him. And I do love him, don't get me wrong. I just think that maybe American Gods wasn't the best book to start my Neil Gaiman reading with.

American Gods is a book about a man called Shadow. After serving three years in prison Shadow is ready to return to a quiet life with his wife and with as little trouble as possible. However, two days before his release he is called into the Warden's office and he learns that his wife was killed in a car crash (under potentially adulterous circumstances that Shadow is unwilling to believe) and he's being released early to go home for her funeral. Stunned and confused, Shadow leaves the prison and begins his trek home to sort out what his life has become in the three years since he left it behind.

On the plane, however, his plans to return to a quiet normalcy are disrupted when he winds up with an upgrade to First Class in a seat next to a man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday. Mr. Wednesday introduces himself as a refugee from a distant war, a former King of America, and an ancient God. And he has a job for Shadow. He wants Shadow to be his bodyguard of sorts, and after a little bit of persuasion (and an interesting appearance by his dead wife) and an impressive bar fight, Shadow agrees.

Together they embark on a strange journey across the United States to try and pull the old gang of Gods that were brought to American with their immigrating peoples back together to try and save their race. Along the way Shadow meets a number of interesting characters who both save his life and try to end it, robs a bank or two, pieces together a series of murders that occur every winter in a small town in the Mid-West he stays in for an extended period of time, and learns how to make peace with his past.

American Gods is an on-the-road sort of tale, with the cast of characters constantly moving from place to place. The problem for me was how slow it was to get into, how long it took to get to the interesting places, and how far between the interesting and active bits of story. I think if I hadn't been trapped on an airplane to Nashville from Maine, and American Gods wasn't the only book I brought with me, that I might have put this book down to read again later (if at all). Fortunately, it finally got good somewhere over West Virginia and I enjoyed finishing the book.

Gaiman really did his research with this one - all the allusions to old gods of different countries and time periods and how they made their way into the US? It was brilliantly crafted and the nerd in me appreciated it so much. But I think he did so much research that he wanted to make sure his book reflected the hours upon hours that he put into the preparation for it. I can't really blame him for it, but it did make it a bit tiresome at times. I've been told that it's a much loved book for Gaiman fans, and that perhaps it wasn't the best book to start reading Gaiman with by said fans. However, despite it's slow start, it hasn't deterred me from picking up another of his books.

Bottom line, I did like it, I just wanted it to move faster. Shadow was a sympathetic and lovable character and the progress he makes through the book is remarkable. It's always great to see a character have an actual growth and arc in a book these days (hello, Bella Swan?). And what a twist at the end! It's totally worth sticking with the book and spelunking through the first hundred or so pages just to get to those last 50 or so pages. It's that good of a twist.

Author: Neil Gaiman

Pages: 588, paperback

Date Finished: 23 October 2012

Opening Line: Shadow had dome three years in prison.

Favorite Line: What I say is, a town isn't a town without a bookstore. It may call itself a town, but unless it's got a bookstore it knows it's not fooling a soul.

Last Line: He walked away and kept on walking. [whited out, for spoiler's sake]

Recommended: If you're a fan of Gaiman, it's a certain have to read. If you like history and mythology, also a have to read. Like I said, it's slow to get into, but once you get past that it's a gripping and excellent read.

Recommended For: High School +, Mythology Enthusiasts, Gaiman Fanatics, Sci-Fi Lovers

Autumn Reads: Book One {Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close}

This book gave me heavy boots.

Narrated by a very unusual nine-year-old named Oskar, this book takes place in the years after September 11th. He is a precocious child always interested in obtaining more knowledge about everything that is going on around him. He is also a pacifist, a vegan, a musician, intellectual, and brutally honest and earnest. Oskar's dad was killed in the collapsing towers and that has left Oskar with a lot of paranoias surrounding the terrorist attacks (he will not, for example, ride in an elevator or take the subway).

However, when Oskar finds a key in a blue vase in his father's old study, a series of amazing events begin. He is extremely interested in where the key came from and where it belongs. Along his journey to discover the mystery of the key he meets a series of interesting and unforgettable characters who are all affected by and effect Oskar in amazing ways.

There is also a separate, but interconnected, story line that weaves its way throughout the story. The narrator in these bits of the story are Oskar's paternal Grandparents. They tell the story of their younger selves and their courtship and life together before their separation and the birth of Oskar's father. This section of the book is presented in a series of letters written to Oskar (or, perhaps his father, it's unclear), telling the hows and the whys of their lives.

Now, why does this book give me heavy boots?

I wanted to LOVE this book. And, as it was I really liked it. I just had a hard time getting into the story and I think that's because of Oskar. Granted, by the end of the book I loved him and was sad to see it end.  He's an interesting character, and an even more interesting narrator. But, he was hard to warm up to - and I think that was probably a major way that Foer wanted to write him. Because, in real life, if you met an Oskar, he'd be hard to get to know. But once you get to know him? You love him. It was still a bit of an obstacle as far as getting into a book is concerned. (It was also really hard to read a page of prose that never uses a single period. That was just odd and threw me for a loop a few times where I had to go back and reread a page to make sure I didn't miss something).

It is a beautifully written book - heart breaking and full of warmth and hope at the same time. Oskar's story tugged at my heart - as someone who lived through 9/11 it's impossible for it not to (and, working with middle schoolers these days, it's still weird to me that there are people alive who didn't and cannot understand what that felt like. I cannot fathom 9/11- something of my lifetime - just being something that exists only in history books already). It was also a hard read because I'm as close to my parents as Oskar was to his - I cannot fathom having something so tragic happening to either of them. And the backstory that ties Oskar's life into his family's? That just made the whole story that much more powerful to me.

I do think that everyone should read this book because it's about something that we can all relate to and have lived through. The moments that occur throughout its pages are beautifully crafted and will stay within me always. It gives me heavy boots because it's so uplifting but still so hard to read at the same time.

Author: Jonathan Safran Foer

Pages: 326

Genre: Contemporary Novel

Date Read: 17 September 2012

First Line: What about a teakettle?

Favorite Line: Sometimes I can hear my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I'm not living.

Recommended For: Everyone. But probably later High School and beyond to fully appreciate what Foer has so masterfully crafted.