Will Grayson, WIll Grayson

4/5 stars

As a John Green fan, Will Grayson Will Grayson (Goodreads | Amazon) did not disappoint   It's witty, clever, neurotic and heartfelt, all the things we've come to expect from his novels.  A lot has been said about how John Green characters are always John Green characters.  True or not, here's the thing: I like John Green characters.  His Will Grayson is a nerdy everyman and I saw myself in him, especially in his flaws.

Also, on that note, John Green also wrote Tiny Cooper.  Or at least most of the Tiny Cooper portions of this novel.  With this being a co-authored book it's hard for me to really know who came up with what first.  Maybe John Green's main character is similar in voice and nerdiness to his other protagonists  but Tiny Cooper is like nothing I've read before.

Even though the book is titled Will Grayson, Will Grayson, Tiny Cooper is the king of this book.  Tiny Cooper is a special kind of character -- a super huge, super gay, super loud, SUPER character.  He just jumps off the page (doing jazz fingers in my mind). Yes Tiny Cooper is over the top, but that's what makes him Tiny Cooper and it's partially a defense mechanism to cope with being an openly gay athlete in high school (i.e. an oddity).

There are two Will Graysons in this book, straight Will written by John Green and gay Will written by David Leviathan.  It's nice to have two distinct voices, though I struggled with Levithan's style at first because the lack of punctuation.  I know it's artsy and stylistic but argh I like capitalization.  But I liked the two voices, liked that they were so different and the punctuation is just a personal thing and Levithan's prose is perfectly understandable.

To try to summarize this book feels ridiculous because what's happening is not really the message, but reveals what's actually important.  What you need to know is that Tiny Cooper is putting on a fantabulous musical about his life as a gay gigantic football player, straight Will Grayson is struggling with being a background character in the Tiny Cooper story (and really who hasn't felt like that?) and gay Will Grayson is struggling with coming out, depression and a whole slew of other issues.

When you look at the story you may think this book is all about accepting those who are different and having a big group hug both gay and straight people alike.  Really it's not.  Not to say that's not in there, but this book is about a different kind of love, friendship.  The word "love" is rarely used in the context of friendship and in most books romantic-love tends to sweep away friendship-love.  That alone made this book different.  So even though people might thing it's a John Green book, at least it's a damn good John Green book.

Sean Griswald's Head (review)

4/5 stars

Sean Griswold's Head (Goodreads | Amazon) is another great book from Lindsey Leavitt.  She has a gift with writing books that are accessible, funny and young without feeling juvenile.  For those who enjoy her Princess for Hire series (me!), read Sean Griswold's Head.  While it's different, without any magic, the sense of humor and writing style remains the same.

Payton Gritas is the ideal student--organized, focused and driven. That is, until her father is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and her near perfect life turns upside down.  Payton didn't have a plan for this bump in the road and doesn't know how to cope.  Suddenly her lists and planners don't mean anything and her schoolwork starts to suffer.  So her guidance counselor recommends finding a focus object, something she can journal about to find balance and organization again.  What her guidance counselor doesn't count on is her picking a living subject, i.e. Sean Griswold's Head.

This book is heavier than Leavitt's Princess for Hire series, but it takes a talented author to make a book cute, fun and heavy all at once.  Payton is a bit of an emotional wreck, at times very frustrating and likable  but all of that makes for an authentic character.  I can relate to Payton, her terrible coping skills.  Even when you want to yell at Payton for the crap she pull, you can also see everything is coming from a place of love and fear.

You get both funny moments like this:

"I know hard-core cyclists wear tight clothes but I don't do spandex. The devil wears spandex. And I doubt the devil's butt is as big as mine."

and deeper stuff like this:

"I mean it isn't cancer. It...people don't...necessarily die. Don't do chemo. They don't follow a set recovery plan. They just change. Their bodies changes. Their abilities--the things they do that make them who they are--leave, sometimes temporarily, sometimes forever. Every day they wake up with that big what if.
And nothing is scarier than a life filled with what ifs--living day by day without predictability and control."

Few books can deal with weighty topics like multiple sclerosis, while still keeping a funny voice.  You rarely get serious family struggles and questions, alongside funny lists and adorable first-crush awkward flirting. But this book contains both seamlessly.  Life is rarely just this tragic teenage mope fest or this funny giddy relationship melodrama. Realistically life is all of that, plus more, and that's what this book captures with equal measures of humor and poignancy.

Follow Friday - Summer Reading

Follow Friday is a feature created by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.  It's a fun blog hop where you meet other book bloggers and find people to follow.

Question: School is out! What is your favorite Summer Reading book?

Here's the thing. I actually only ever had one assigned summer reading book.  Strange I know.  It was Grendel which I actually really enjoyed at the time but probably couldn't tell you anything about now. Or wait, was it Beowulf and then we read Grendel during the school year? That makes more sense.  Honestly, that was AP english in high school and we read a lot of books so I'm a tad blurry especially since those are basically the same story told from different perspective. I liked them both well enough. I think I preferred Grendel because it was less poem and more just novel.

I'd prefer if you'd ask me what is my favorite book to read in the summer.  So I'm going to pretend you asked that too.  It's the Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Piece and I usually re-read it once a year.  It's my happy place BFF series.  

Alphabet of Dreams (review)

4/5 stars

We all have tropes that we will pick up no matter what, right?  For me, the "girl posing as a boy to make her way in the world" trope is pretty much an insta-read.  So when I was at the library browsing audiobooks, none of the titles really grabbing me, I flipped over a book and read the description.  When I got to this line,  "Now disguised as a boy, Mitra has never given up believing that they can rejoin what is left of their family and regain their rightful standing in the world," I stopped reading midway through the summary, went to the checkout desk and came home with Alphabet of Dreams (Goodreads | Amazon ).

For a book that I had never heard of, Alphabet of Dreams immediately drew me in.  The book takes place in Persia and the Middle East during Biblical times.  Mitra and Babak are the children of nobles forced to live as beggars after their father attempts to revolt against the king. Mitra, who goes by Ramin as a boy, never gives up hope that there's a better life for her.  She believes that her family is alive and that one day they'll be able to live as nobility again, not as poor starving beggars.

What I didn't realize (probably because I stopped reading the description halfway through) is that this is a retelling of the birth of Jesus from the prospective of the wise men.  If you're worried that this book is overtly religious, don't be.  If Goodreads hadn't told me, I wouldn't have realized until they were at the manger (and felt like an idiot because the clues were all there, 3 magus's following a star and all). But that's a testament to the power of Mitra's story.  The journey with the wise men is the backdrop to her tale, not the main plot line.

This is the story of an ambitious girl trying to survive in a harsh world.  She is not a soft pampered princess, but a street smart, tough girl, who just wants to be with her mother, father and brother and to feel safe again. But this is also the story of a girl who eventually realizes that wealth isn't everything, who loves her brother and would do anything to protect him.  She's prideful, ambitious, but still loving and kind.  I like that she's a complicated imperfect character struggling in a new world that she doesn't understand.

I also liked that this book took place in the Middle East (this is becoming a trend with me isn't it?).  Most of the "girl dressed as boy" stories take place in very anglo-European settings, sometimes fantasy, sometimes historical, but the new setting added an extra dimension to the "girl dressed as boy" because of the cultural restrictions on Persian women and the rules related to the gods they served.

Overall this book was an excellent surprise that I would recommend, especially on audio.

Narration
The narration was excellent.  Not knowing anything about Persian accents, I cannot comment on the accuracy but I'm glad they used an accent.  The narrator allowed you to really see inside Mitra's head, capturing the emotions without intruding into the story.

Peregrine Harker and the Black Death (review)

3/5 stars

Have you ever read a book that just feels like it's trying too hard?  Peregrine Harker and the Black Death (Goodreads | Amazon) wants to channel early 1900s serialized adventure drama.  It reminds me a lot of early radio drama, where it's all bang, sizzle and sound effects without enough of a plot to back-up the story.  And while the voice is different, it's a little too punch-you-in-the-face obvious for my liking.

"If you were to deny the humble British labourer his morning cup there would be riots in the street of every major city from here to Rangoon; and, in a few months, I believe that very tragedy is about to happen. There's trouble brewing and no mistake."  (Note the tea pun, which is acknowledged in the book but still pretty dreadful pun-wise)

Also everything just happens too easily in this book.  There are too many coincidences and happenstances.  All these EXCITING DRAMATIC MISADVENTURES are thrown at the main character and of course he always survives against all odds.

"It was purely by chance that she that very evening had decided to visit the Place des Pyramides and in particular the Hotel Regal.  She'd caught sight of me..."

Almost everything that happens is purely by chance, a coincidence or because of a "sudden urge" to walk.  To an extent some of these are explained by the end, but it's too little too late.

The characters never feel like people, more just walking types.  I was frustrated by the protagonist Peregrine Parker's tendency to believe anything anybody says, while all the time thinking himself exceedingly clever.  It's hard to get behind a main character so annoyingly thick.  Louisa also feels more like a type than a person, the BRIGHT, STUNNING, LOVELY young lady (who still gets weepy and swoons in case you think she has heroine potential).  Louisa is smarter than Peregrine and had potential, but in the end I found her just as unsatisfying as a character.

For a younger audience this book may be very enjoyable, but it lacks the nuances that make the difference between acceptably good middle grade and great middle-grade.

 FTC Disclosure: I received a free e-book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Follow Friday - Fave Mom

Follow Friday is a feature created by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.  It's a fun blog hop where you meet other book bloggers and find people to follow.

Question: Happy Mother's Day! Who is your favorite mom from fiction?

Ruby Oliver's mother immediately pops into mind.  (I forced myself to pick an answer besides Mrs. Weasley since I'd already seen that). Her mother is OVER THE TOP. She's an actress in a one-woman show.  She's all about expressing the feelings.  So when Ruby starts having life-drama, her mother puts in her in therapy (which is the premise of this series).

But what makes Ruby's parents so amazing (both) is that they try so damn hard to help their daughter.  They are infuriating at moments, at times absolutely clueless, there's a point where they aren't actually speaking but you never doubt how much Ruby's mother loves her.  I mean they get a giant dog because they think Ruby's therapist said she needed one and they live on a HOUSEBOAT.  Not a big one. A small, maybe even tiny boat.  I like that Ruby and her mother have a realistic, sometimes angst-filled but completely love driven relationship.  You rarely see that in YA.

If you haven't read this series you need to.  It's fun feminism for teens.  Did you see that. FUN FEMINISM FOR TEENS.  (Here's my gushy gushy review)

The Pirate's Wish (review)

4/5 stars

I was absolutely convinced The Pirate's Wish (Goodreads | Amazon) was a middle book.  Completely 100% believed it.  But apparently, this story was a duology not a trilogy. Here's the thing; The Pirate's Wish is good.  As a reader my needs were completely met by the end of this book.  But if you're expecting something as great as The Assassin's Curse (reviewish thing here), you need to pull in the reins of your expectation.

Personally I like raging Ananna.  I can see the problems that other readers would have with her.  She spends half this book stomping around being pissed at Naji and not listening to anything he tries to say.  Yes it creates more conflict than necessary. But really, she has every reason to be pissed and angry at the world. And why do I like it?  It feels completely authentic and true to the rash, brash pirate girl we met in the first book.  The reader sees Ananna's vulnerability through her anger, despite the raging and trying to hide her feelings, you see that she's hurt.  She's not one to talk about her feelings, she's the type to act out rather than cope.  On top of that, I can see myself raging and stomping around like Ananna.  It feels true to the character and true to life.

"You killed the son of Captain Hariri," Marjani said, "one of the richest pirates in the Confederation, before he could kill you. You helped win a sea battle against the Hariri clan. You struck a deal with a manticore and lived. Why do you care what Naji thinks of you?" 

I didn't have an answer to that. 

When I read the author's note at the end and I learned that Assassin's Curse and The Pirate's Wish had once been one megabook a lightbulb went off and I thought "Oh that makes sense."  The plot in the second book doesn't feel as urgent or as necessary, breaking the curse becomes almost a foregone conclusion. However what I loved about The Assassin's Curse, fiery Annanna and sullen protective Naji, was still there.  We get the added bonus of exploring the rich world Clarke has built and meeting a hilariously sassy talking manticore.  I was satisfied with this book, even if the journey at times felt like an unnecessary obstacle course, ultimately I'm glad I got there.

In conclusion I just wanted to find a way of to include this Ananna quote. What I wanted to show was that she's still the smart, bold character that we loved that everyone always underestimates.  Only after I typed the review did I realize it kind of describes the book at times.  But some things are worth dawdling for.

"What?" I stepped forward, whole body tense. "What do you mean dawdled?" 

The Assassin looked at me. "Ah, the joys of dealing with the uneducated-" 

"I know what the fuck the word means..."