Rating: 5 out of 5

Book Info

552 pages

Published March 14th 2006 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

It's just a small story really, about, among other things, a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery.

Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak's groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can't resist: books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids - as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.

This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.

This book is awesome. This book has to be in my current top ten, and most likely, always will be on it. Let's get down to the "why" shall we?


The Format

I loved the format for this book. Looking at it for the first time, I was kinda scared at the humongous tome lying in front of me. But once you open the book, you notice that the format that the book is written in is both quirky and different. The little blocks of texts that provide insight into that big chunk of text that you just read makes the 500-something page book bearable and not boring at all. But it is such a good book. Words can't explain. It's kind of like reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret, another book that I love.

The Characters

Death - Death has to be my favourite character ever written on paper. Other than Elena from Bitten. Death in this book is portrayed as a kind of quasi-human character, except for that fact that he's kind of emotionally unattached, except for with Liesel Meminger, The Book Thief.

Liesel Meminger - Liesel is a live in the moment kind of girl. She's one of the best people that I've ever read about, she's nice, smart, and compassionate, but she's really naive. That's really her, only problem, but you grow to love her because that's the type of person she is.

The Plot

The plot for this book is good, but it can be slightly grade-school at times. Kinda childish, but in a good way. Marcus Zusak manages to write about a topic, that usually is gruesome and dark, in a way that makes you laugh at it instead of wanting to rip of Hitler's head. This book will make you laugh and cry, then laugh some more. Marcus Zusak's writing is truly amazing.

The only problem I have with the book is the extreme amount of profanity in it. Like I know that its about the amount of profanity you usually use in coversation. But really, there's at least 2 swear words on each page, tone it down a little. At least they're in German and not English...

The Verdict

Go to the bookstore, right now and buy this book. You will thank me. It has to be one of the best books ever written in this decade. It is really, really, really good. I recommend this book to anyone that wants a light-ish read.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Rating: 5 out of 5

Book Info

552 pages

Published March 14th 2006 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

It's just a small story really, about, among other things, a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery.

Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak's groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can't resist: books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids - as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.

This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.

This book is awesome. This book has to be in my current top ten, and most likely, always will be on it. Let's get down to the "why" shall we?


The Format

I loved the format for this book. Looking at it for the first time, I was kinda scared at the humongous tome lying in front of me. But once you open the book, you notice that the format that the book is written in is both quirky and different. The little blocks of texts that provide insight into that big chunk of text that you just read makes the 500-something page book bearable and not boring at all. But it is such a good book. Words can't explain. It's kind of like reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret, another book that I love.

The Characters

Death - Death has to be my favourite character ever written on paper. Other than Elena from Bitten. Death in this book is portrayed as a kind of quasi-human character, except for that fact that he's kind of emotionally unattached, except for with Liesel Meminger, The Book Thief.

Liesel Meminger - Liesel is a live in the moment kind of girl. She's one of the best people that I've ever read about, she's nice, smart, and compassionate, but she's really naive. That's really her, only problem, but you grow to love her because that's the type of person she is.

The Plot

The plot for this book is good, but it can be slightly grade-school at times. Kinda childish, but in a good way. Marcus Zusak manages to write about a topic, that usually is gruesome and dark, in a way that makes you laugh at it instead of wanting to rip of Hitler's head. This book will make you laugh and cry, then laugh some more. Marcus Zusak's writing is truly amazing.

The only problem I have with the book is the extreme amount of profanity in it. Like I know that its about the amount of profanity you usually use in coversation. But really, there's at least 2 swear words on each page, tone it down a little. At least they're in German and not English...

The Verdict

Go to the bookstore, right now and buy this book. You will thank me. It has to be one of the best books ever written in this decade. It is really, really, really good. I recommend this book to anyone that wants a light-ish read.

Teaser Tuesday #2

Teaser Tuesday is a book meme hosted by Should be Reading. Description: Grab your current read, open to a random page and share 2 sentences from somewhere on that page (no spoilers please).

Jasper's Current Read: The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared

The other discovery was in the mailbox when Aronsson [the police inspector] was leaving. Among the day's post, there was an official letter from the Vehicle Licencing Authority, which confirmed that a 1992 Yellow Scania K113 had changed owners. [From page 145]

Showcase Sunday #3

Showcase Sunday is a bookish meme started by Book, Biscuits, and Tea, where you list the new books or fandom merchandise you've received (from a bookstore, a library, as a gift, etc.) throughout the week. Since there will be a SS post every week*, the amount of books and merch shown on each, will vary

Manali:

~Books~

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Echo by Alyson Noël

Mystic by Alyson Noël

Horizon by Alyson Noël

Burn for Burn by Jenny Han

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

~Merch~

If I Stay Movie Poster

If I Stay Bookmark

The Hunger Games:Catching Fire Wristband

YanLin:

 ~Books~

Other Words For Love

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

Antigoddess by Kendare Blake

Reality Boy by A.S. King

Let the Storm Break by Shannon Messenger

Looking for Alaska by John Green

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

~Merch~

 If I Stay Movie Poster

If I Stay Bookmark

Jasper:

~Books~

Forgotten by Catherine McKenzie

The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

1984 by George Orwell

Animal Farm by George Orwell

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong

The Reckoning  by Kelley Armstrong

The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong

The Rising by Kelley Armstrong

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

 Stolen by Kelley Armstrong

Industrial Magic by Kelley Armstrong

 Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs 

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Unite Me by Tahereh Mafi

Just One Day by Gayle Forman

If I Stay (Movie Tie-In Edition) by Gayle Forman

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

~Merch~

If I Stay Movie Poster

If  I Stay Bookmark

Review Copies:

              

Portrait of Woman in Ink

(Kelly I. Hitchcock)

Grayson's Surrender and Taking Cover

(Catherine Mann)

Scarlet Angel 

(C.A. Wilke)

Mortom

(Erik Therme)

*We will not post weekly Showcase Sunday posts since there will then be very few books on each post. 

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (Jasper's Review)

My Rating: 2 out of 5

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

Reaction upon finishing:

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? :/

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

This book was confusing. Really, really, really confusing. Other than that, the book was... plain.

So on the inside flap, the message tells you "If anyone asks how it ends, just LIE." Obviously, I don't lie in my reviews, so I'll just say nothing. But... I can't help but tell you this: The end, is the absolute worst and most confusing part about the book. Seriously, read the book, don't read spoilers.

The Review

The book is just another YA novel. You see, most YA novels are written in a way that capitalise on the minds of very easy to please readers, that don't want anything overly complicated, but complicated enough to make themselves feel like they have accomplished something through reading the novel. I know this sounds really cynical but that's the feeling I get from a lot of books that are trying to be smart, but don't quite get there.

We Were Liars is a tale that has a million different faces. You could look at it in a light that is criticising advantage and privilege, where the people born into a family that has everything, don't want it. You could look at it in a way that shows that racism is still very much alive today. But of course, you can look at it and see a beautiful love story that will never end exactly the right way. But it's that last part that you see the most, and the first two only come to you after you've read the book another time because you were so confused the first time you read it.

The "Brilliant Damaged Girl":

Cadence is the type of person that you read about and while thinking "1st world problem, 1st world problem, 1st world problem, not a first world problem, wait never mind." Her character lacks depth that I love from the characters that I read about. Like Eleanor from Eleanor & Park (Click here to see what I wrote about her.) But Candace was that exact opposite. Most of the time, I have no effing idea what's happening in that head of hers. She changes her mind within 2 pages of making the decision, she as no appreciation for anything, or anyone, she's just so... shallow and fake. Sorry, not sorry to all of you that liked her.

The "Passionate Political Boy"

Okay, Gatwick "Gat" was the one person I didn't absolutely hate in this book. He was okay at most times... and really not okay at others. The thing about him is that I love his ideas and his opinions, but I don't think he fits in with the story very well. The whole point of him is basically to have him become best friends with and a boyfriend of what is probably a group of billionaires, and tell them, continuously, that he doesn't like wealth and he doesn't fit in. I mean like WTF dude, just don't go to their summer estate that is just chock full of that wealth that you just happen to absolutely hate. 

E. Lockhart doesn't really make sense in her choice of characters...

The plot wasn't actually half-bad most of the time... just that it was a little predictable and so plain most of the times. That last chapter was so terrible I can't even describe it. It felt like a rushed 3 page section that was tacked onto the end. So by the time you finish reading a chapter that isn't fit to end a book, you get to the "twist" that just doesn't make sense with the rest of the book. I really didn't like that part.

I think the only thing that redeemed it from a 1 to a 2 for me is that I love books that have an element that is so different and out there, it just kinda works. In this book, those sections are the "fairytale" kind of sections. About a "king and his three beautiful daughters"... those parts were really well written.

So bottom line. Would I recommend this book? No... with a hesitant yes that follows. I suppose that this book could be very good at being a lot of people's favourite book, but I think that there'll be a lot more haters than likers. Haters gotta hate.

Across the Universe by Beth Revis (Manali's Review)

Across the Universe by Beth Revis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

*WARNING: SPOILERS*

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone - one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship - tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Holy f*** this book was amazing. First of all, the cover is absolutely beautiful. I'm not sure why they changed it to that weird metal-y thing, but I don't like that new cover. I'm really glad I read it in it's original cover, because it'a absolutely beautiful.

The actual story was sooooo cool. The idea itself I found pretty cool. Cryogenically frozen so that you could be transported to terraform a planet called Centauri-Earth that would take 300 years to reach? That's cool. I love the way the pain of getting frozen was described. Yeah, thats a bit morbid of me, but I appreciated the detailed description. It made everything feel so much more real.



First, the Season. Like ew. That is so ridiculously gross, I can't even. Yeah, it does really show the lack of humanity aboard Godspeed, the way they have a set time to do it because they couldn't handle doing it whenever, yeah, but having to picture a bunch of people having sex literally everywhere? That's really gross. Nuh-uh.



And oh my god, the Plague. The fact that there wasn't a plague at all and they managed to cover it up scares me a bit. All history before then was wiped out. And then the fact that the ship had been running for way over 300 years, and would continue to run for another 100 or so years if it doesn't break down? Oh god. And the cryo level itself is completely hidden. And the chemicals being released into the water supply is causing people to lose their...humanity, I guess...except for the people who are supposedly crazy, who are on meds--they don't get affected. I don't know, it just bothered me how sick people were on the ship, specifically Elder.

And then the part about the chemicals in the water, and then everything is just...I can't think anymore. Elder, though. Hiding a plague, drugging inhabitants, controlling sex, and making people believe that they were close to their destination, and showing them fake stars that they could tell their children about. He's sick. Like the thing about stars. Harley suicided because of the stars, so he could be with them. And he painted himself with a background of stars before he died. And it makes me sad. I think the stars were the saddest part to me. What if we, who are...accustomed t stars were to be put on a Godspeed? We wouldn't have real stars, we would only have the occasional glimpse of fake stars. I suppose stars are taken for granted.

And then there's who whole part about who unplugged Amy and the rest of the people and the whole Elder, Amy, Doc, Eldest, Orion thing. I really couldn't figure out who I should suspect as the unplugger. Which is really good, I think. The author kept things suspenseful, First, I was thinking Eldest. Then I was thinking Doc. Then Orion. The Eldest, Doc, Orion, and so on. Eldest just seems like the kind of a****** to do it. Orion was just suspicious. And Doc...I guess he was suspicious too. And then BOOM, it was Orion, but Elder was the one who unplugged Amy, 'cause he thought she was cool looking, because she was different. Mind blown.



My review is going everywhere. I literally can't even think. My thoughts are just everywhere, and I'm having trouble forming proper sentences, and proper thoughts. And putting everything into orderly paragraphs which all make sense, and pertain to their own topics. But they don't. Sorry. So I think I'm going to end it here. I feel like this turned out more like a rant than a review.



Basically, this book was absolutely fantastic. And I can't even think, it was really good. I was having so many mind blown moments, and so many "Holy s***, oh my god!!" moments. It was so good, and I couldn't figure out anything about who did anything until the end. It was like everything fell into place, every single moment in the book, every single piece came together. Plus, I was bracing myself for a really romantic book, but it wasn't even. It was like one or two kisses, and that's it. Added bonus!

- Mannytee



View all my reviews

Down on the Other Street by Jennifer Cie (Manali's Review)

Down On The Other Street: Volume I by Jennifer Cie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Long winded, unemployed, and timid, on the first date Brendan Bloom is already in love. Comfortably arched over his body, Ryan contemplates murder. Cold, necklace gleaming against the pale tint of her collarbone, the passenger could have mercy. Not a little black book, but a faded love letter out from under the sheets. Some romances ignite on sight, others flare at the base of waterless tubs soaked in agitation. Rooted in the South, this collection of short stories delivers five electric confessions of love, sexuality, and identity across time.

To be honest here, I think this could have been a fantastic book, had it not been for all the confusion. Maybe it's just the lack of experience talking, or maybe it was just me being dumb, but I was quite confused. It was like a bunch of unrelated stories put into one book. I thought eventually, something would connect them all. Maybe something did connect them all, but once again, my lack of experience in reading blinded me, and prevented me from fully understanding. After that, I just chose to believe that the book was a compilation of stories. I'm not sure if I'm right in believing that, but apparently I am, according to the synopsis.



Other than the whole thing where I couldn't figure out whether it was one story or a compilation of stories, the confusion was mostly due to just not getting what was happening. A lot of the time, I couldn't figure out who's perspective it was in, or the sexuality of the person (were they straight, gay, etc.) or the gender of the person. Other times, I just couldn't picture anything in my head--the image wasn't really clear. On top of all that, I couldn't decipher the title. I couldn't really figure out why the title was the title.



I think most of the problem is that I was the reader of this book. If someone else had read the book, the review would probably be a lot more meaningful, because they would have had more understanding than I do. But it's just me. And I didn't get the book completely, so there's not much for me to say.

However, those problems aside, if I were judging the stories on their own, they were actually pretty good. Yeah, a bit sexual, but that's okay. The stories themselves were good. Different time periods with the same theme: accepting yourself, accepting who you love. Or rather, the struggle of acceptance.

I've nothing left to say now. I've explained my confusion, and I can't really say anything worth anything because I was confused by the book. This book did have it's good parts, and I'm sure I would've found the book a lot more enjoyable had I understood it. But it wasn't bad. I was just confused.

- Mannytee

View all my reviews

The Giver by Lois Lowry (Jasper's Review)

Awesome new cover of The Giver

My Rating: 5/5 PERFECTION

Book info:

240 Pages

First Published in 1993

Lois Lowry's  The Giver is the quintessential dystopian novel, followed by its remarkable companions, Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son.

Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns 12 he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.

When a book leaves you breathless, you know that it has to be awesome. OK HOLY CRAP THIS BOOK WAS GOOD. You see, I've been hearing people fan over this book for a really long time already and I just never got around to reading it. I kinda thought that maybe it was a little over hyped? But no. No the raving over this book that people did was definitely not over hyped at all. It's completely and utterly worth the 12.20 I bought it with. Here let me give you some gifs

Ok. So basically, this book is about a pseudo-perfect dystopian society. I use the words psuedo-perfect because, no one know anything. Nothing about pain, death, war not even snow. The only people that know are the Giver and the Receiver. 

“I liked the feeling of love,' [Jonas] confessed. He glanced nervously at the speaker on the wall, reassuring himself that no one was listening. 'I wish we still had that,' he whispered. 'Of course,' he added quickly, 'I do understand that it wouldn't work very well. And that it's much better to be organized the way we are now. I can see that it was a dangerous way to live.' 

...'Still,' he said slowly, almost to himself, 'I did like the light they made. And the warmth.” 

They don't even know about colour. Somehow they believe that without anything to make people different, everything would be better. And somehow, I found myself wondering at this intricate tale that Lois Lowry has weaved and I thought to myself that maybe it would make a better world. That woman is really amazing.

Let's talk about the characters for a while (the pictures I'll be using are from the movie casting)

Jonas

Jonas is the awesome bad ass character in the book, there's always one. He's like Katniss from the Hunger Games... but smarter, nicer and better :D I actually love the casting for Jonas in the movie because that's exactly what I picture him as. He's tall but not too tall, skinny but still has some figure. If I were a girl, I'd be swooning over him. I mean have you seen that face? ;D OK back to the character. I think the way that Jonas started out as really rule abiding, that he wouldn't even think about breaking a rule. But then when he progressed, he turned into a bad ass rebel that does whatever the hell he wants. So AWESOME. I also kinda hated him though. He's pretty naive and stupid but at least he grew out of that...

The Giver

The Giver was a kinda love hate thing for me. First off I understand that he is basically smarter than everything that has ever lived before, but I don't think that he really has to be so condescending... He's just so cynical. So I guess I really didn't like him.

This book was really short. Too short. But it got to the point and I love that with books. The book was about the same length as a short chapter book that you would read when you were 6. But that's really all that I hated about the book.

I loved a lot more than I hated though. I loved that this is one of the original dystopian novels, that it isn't like the dystopians written in the past 5 years. Where the plot just gets repeated book after book, or in books like Divergent, that gets so much hype that you just have to read it. But when you do read it, you find that the book is actually really, really bad. I mean look at Tris. She's such a pushover. And she has basically no personality. But The Giver is so much better than that. the people in this book, lack the terrible character writing that's basically in every dystopian novel, the people are actually believable. Like, Jonas, The Giver, Lily, Fiona, they all make sense. I think a lot of dystopian authors get carried away making the characters all "futuristic" that they forget to make them human. And that is definitely not a problem in this book.

What else can I say about this book other than the fact that it's absolutely perfect. The characters, the plot, the everything is just the epitome of modern YA Fiction.

I really suggest you to read this book. Especially since the movie is coming out in 1 day!!!! SO EXCITED! Seriously. Read. The. Book. I hope I can get my hands on a copy of Gathering Blue. I am praying right now that this series doesn't degrade like Divergent and the Hunger Games did.

Reviews! (Or The Lack Thereof)

Hey everyone!

So as you have seen, we haven't been writing reviews at the pace that we usually do, and we hope that you do understand, that an unforeseen circumstance has delayed our reviews, and that they will be delayed by a couple weeks, though they are definitely being written!

Thanks,
-The Last Page at Midnight Crew