I Love Book Lists!

I love lists.  I love making my own lists.  I love crossing items off my list (in fact, I will add an item to my list that I have already done, just to cross it off).  I love "Top 10" lists.  And I really, really LOVE book lists.  Imagine my excitement when I came a link on MSN to a list titled "40 Classic Teen Books Every Adult Should Reread".  Here is the link.   Immediately I clicked and was transported back to my youth (far, far back at some points...like, to 1989).  Be forewarned:  there is a very good chance that most of my students probably will not have heard of 80 % of these books.  In fact, the introduction to the slide show reads, "Warning: This ain't your Hunger Games or Harry Potter slideshow. This is a tribute to the forgotten books from your childhood and teen years. The ones that may not have been made into movies, but were just as influential in their own special way."  I personally had read 16 out of 40, which isn't a great percentage, but of those 16, some of them honestly helped shaped my childhood as a reader.



This one actually doesn't need much of an explanation.  This is the second time I can remember crying in school about something I was reading (the first time was during Where the Red Fern Grows, which is also on the list).  This is the gold standard to which I hold all tear-jerkers to this day.



This is the first time I can remember reading about people who were immortal.  Honestly, I don't remember much about the characters, but I have memories of staying up at night, contemplating the ideas of death and immortality.  A little heavy for a sixth-grader, huh?!



I don't think I can put into words how much this book affected me.  Every kid (as far as I know) has either been told by a sibling they are adopted or has pondered the possibility of being adopted, even if it's a completely, 100 % irrational possibility (it usually is).  In this book, Janie is 15 years old and is starting to think about getting her driver's license.  The problem?  She has no birth certificate.  And thus the story begins.  Why doesn't she have one?  Is she really who she always thought she was?

Seeing these books on the list made me want to pick them up and read it them all over again.  Since the title of the list was "40 Classic Teen Books Every Adult Should Reread," I guess the purpose was achieved!  I think it would be really interesting to look at them from my perspective now.

What is a book from your childhood that you would like to go back and reread?  What books do you read now that you think your parents should read?

Happy reading!  :)

It's done...and I'm happy about it.

What's done, you ask?  For those of you who've been following my blog (or listening to my semi-rants in class), you know what I'm talking about.  I finished all three books in The Maze Runner series.  And no, I will not be reading the prequel.  I've had enough.  Why, you ask?  I can't entirely put my finger on it.  Weird, I know....but it just didn't sit well with me.  

Let me start with the positives (and there were several, despite my negative tone in the first paragraph).  The story line was super creative, complex, and well-developed.  After finishing the series, I could tell that the author, James Dashner, knew where he was going to end up when the last book finished, and I appreciate that from a writer.  The characters were round, if not somewhat dynamic, and I especially appreciated Minho's sarcasm throughout.  He and Frypan were my favorites.  The story was overflowing with conflict, which leads me into my biggest problem with the series.  

IT HAD SO MUCH CONFLICT.  I know, I know...stories are supposed to have conflict and lots of it.  A story without conflict is like a picnic without ketchup, Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes, Halloween without Reese's Cups (why am I using so many food references?  I think I'm hungry).  I get it.  But I felt like this book put me through the emotional wringer without a lot of reward or payoff.  I don't want to spoil the series for those of you who haven't read it, so I will say there was a little bit of payoff, but for the most part, it just made me sad.  The world in which they live is so broken, depressed, unhealthy, and cynical.  I had a great quote marked that I was going to put in this post, but unfortunately my digital library loan ended and I lost my highlights (the down side of e-books).  A vast majority of the population has this horrible disease called The Flare, which basically eats your brain and turns you into a crazy, cannibalistic animal.  Ugh.  

Would I recommend this series?  It depends what you're looking for in a book and what type of genre you like.  I think a lot of people would (and do) enjoy reading the story; it just wasn't for me.  

What am I reading now?  A book called The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson.  I really like her other books, especially Speak, which I am sure many of you are familiar with, and this one has been getting a lot of buzz and recognition, so I thought I would try it.  The cheerfulness factor isn't much of a step up from The Maze Runner, as it's about a 17-year-old girl who is trying to deal with her veteran dad's PTSD, but Hayley's voice (she's the main character) is distinct and entertaining.  For example, when she is trying to figure out what kind of text message to send to her friend, with whom she is quite upset, she says, "I sent a simple smiley face, because my phone did not have a smiley face that was wrapping her hands around her own throat and beating her head against a wall" (89).  HA.



What are you reading right now?  Anything good?  Any recommendations for me after this one is done?  Happy reading!