The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

A book finished. Wow. 

Close those mouths; this is real. 

I started a feature thingy a while ago (as in November/December, I think) in which I decided it would be cool to read through a book and write down my thoughts chapter by chapter as I read it. Turns out, I am waaaay not dedicated enough for that because it was super time consuming and I didn't like that super OCD-ish dissection thing. So. 

Recently I decided it was about time to finish the book I had started so many months ago. I sat down one afternoon and read it all in one splurt. I think that for me, that's the way to do it. I can't do dissection. If you do that and get so wrapped up and the little miniscule things, you can't get the vibe and emotions of the book as well which I think is why I enjoyed the second half of the book A LOT. 

You can clicky on the "Made to Last: The Lovely Bones" tag thing in the sidebar if you want to see what I thought of the first twelve or so chapters.

Now to the review-ish part:

I can definitely see why The Lovely Bones has left such a mark on the literary industry/on people everywhere. It's a book that works on so many levels. Alice Sebold is able to take a story of one family's tragic loss and turn it into a book that, no matter your experience, almost everyone will be able to relate to. She does it with eloquence and simplicity. She does it with almost poetic like prose at some points, and stark, brisk words at others. She knows how to manipulate your feelings, create amazingly deep and insightful characters, and most of all, make you feel along with the book.

It's one of the few stories that I've read that has really moved me and made me question the way I see things and the way I judge people. I think it's a book you have to read to believe. My pathetic words aren't going to do it any justice. And I don't think I want to over analyze it any more than I already have for fear of ruining it for myself.

So yeah, this is my crappy review. 

Please read this book. It's amazing. It will move you. It will make you see things differently. And you'll love it. 

Wait for it...

Ima edit this post tomorrow.

Just wanted to say that I FINISHED A BOOK. Yes, I finally got around to finishing up the Lovely Bones. I kinda deserted the little feature-y thing I had going with that book and just read the rest of it in a one day spurt. I liked it. 

I will elaborate immensely tomorrow.

And you'll be happy to know that I am on page 71 of a new book (What Happens Here) and am moving along at a nice clip. Yay! 

:)

PS. thanks a bajillion to all the people who entered my little contest these last few days. you guys are my favorite. *hugs* now I get to sit down and read 21 stories about myself tomorrow. heehee.

Last Call...

So I think I officially have seven entries in my Blog-o-versary contest. Which, at least to me, is a little pathetic. I mean, the prizes are actually GOOD.

-Bananagrams (picture above + it comes in a banana-shaped case, hehe)

-$5 Starbucks gift card

-Your choice of book from Amazon (under $10)

-Mix CD

And it's really not that hard to enter. Go here to find out how. And please, please, please do enter. I don't want to feel pathetic... 

:P

Booking Through Thursday/Saturday #24: The Best Book You've Never Read

(On Saturday)

We’ve all seen the lists, we’ve all thought, “I should really read that someday,” but for all of us, there are still books on “The List” that we haven’t actually gotten around to reading. Even though we know they’re fabulous. Even though we know that we’ll like them. Or that we’ll learn from them. Or just that they’re supposed to be worthy. We just … haven’t gotten around to them yet.
What’s the best book that YOU haven’t read yet?

This is sooo easy for me because I have this enormous list of books I have yet to read. Top of the list of supposedly amazing books? The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson. I've heard such high praise for both of these books and the only thing that's kept me from reading them is prior reading commitments; books for review, library books that are due, books of authors I'm interviewing, etc. And I actually own both of these books which makes it especially pathetic. 

I swear, I'm trying to get back on the reading wagon...but it's so hard! I have so much to do and so little time. e.g. homework, American Idol, homework, friends, school projects, catching up on the Oscar movies, homework, and on. It's rather horrible. I just need to get dedicated. I'm finishing up The Lovely Bones and I'm reading Willow (I'm sorry it's taken me so long, Khy!) next so hopefully that will get me out of my pitiful slump? Here's to high hopes.

WANT

MY LITTLE RED BOOK is an anthology of stories about first periods, collected from women of all ages from around the world. The accounts range from light-hearted (the editor got hers while water skiing in a yellow bathing suit) to heart-stopping (a first period discovered just as one girl was about to be strip-searched by the Nazis). The contributors include well-known women writers (Meg Cabot, Erica Jong, Gloria Steinem, Cecily von Ziegesar), alongside today's teens. And while the authors differ in race, faith, or cultural background, their stories share a common bond: they are all accessible, deeply honest, and highly informative. Whatever a girl experiences or expects, she'll find stories that speak to her thoughts and feelings.

Ultimately, MY LITTLE READ BOOK is more than a collection of stories. It is a call for a change in attitude, for a new way of seeing periods. In a time when the taboo around menstruation seems to be one of the few left standing, it makes a difficult subject easier to talk about, and helps girls feel proud instead of embarrassed or ashamed. By revealing what it feels like to undergo this experience first hand, and giving women the chance to explain their feelings in their own words, it aims to provide support, entertainment, and a starting point for discussion for mothers and daughters everywhere. It is a book every girl should have. Period.

I need this book. I'm ordering a copy off Amazon today. 

Doesn't it look fantastic?!

Top Teen Books

I can't remember where I first saw this, but I thought it would be interesting to see how many I've read. Turned out I didn't do to badly...

Instructions:
Put an “X” next to the books you’ve read
Put a “+” next to the books you LOVE
Put a “#” next to the books you plan on reading
Tally your “X”s at the bottom
Share with your friends!

(I didn't do the books I love thing because that would've been all of them...haha)

1. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy / Douglas Adams
2. Kit’s Wilderness / David Almond

3. Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian / Sherman Alexie
X
4. Speak / Laurie Halse Anderson X
5. Feed / M.T. Anderson

6. Flowers in the Attic / V.C. Andrews X
7. 13 Reasons Why / Jay Asher X
8. Am I Blue? / Marion Dane Bauer (editor)

9. Audrey Wait! / Robin Benway X
10. Weetzie Bat / Francesca Lia Block

11. Tangerine / Edward Bloor

12. Forever / Judy Blume #

13. What I Saw and How I Lied / Judy Blundell #

14. Tyrell / Coe Booth

15. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants / Ann Brashares X
16. A Great and Terrible Beauty / Libba Bray X
17. The Princess Diaries / Meg Cabot 
X
18. The Stranger / Albert Camus

19. Ender’s Game / Orson Scott Card

20. Postcards from No Man’s Land / Aidan Chambers

21. Perks of Being a Wallflower / Stephen Chbosky
22. And Then There Were None / Agatha Christie
X
23. Gingerbread / Rachel Cohn #

24. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist / Rachel Cohn and David Levithan X
25. Artemis Fowl (series) / Eoin Colfer
X
26. The Hunger Games / Suzanne Collins X
27. The Midwife’s Apprentice / Karen Cushman X

28. The Truth About Forever / Sarah Dessen X
29. Little Brother / Cory Doctorow

30. A Northern Light / Jennifer Donnelly
#
31. Tears of a Tiger / Sharon Draper

32. The House of the Scorpion / Nancy Farmer
X
33. Breathing Underwater / Alex Flinn

34. Stardust / Neil Gaiman

35. Annie on My Mind / Nancy Garden

36. What Happened to Cass McBride / Gail Giles

37. Fat Kid Rules the World / K.L. Going

38. Lord of the Flies / William Golding X

39. Looking for Alaska / John Green X
40. Bronx Masquerade / Nikki Grimes

41. Out of the Dust / Karen Hesse 

42. Hoot / Carl Hiaasen X
43. The Outsiders / S.E. Hinton
X
44. Crank / Ellen Hopkins #
45. The First Part Last / Angela Johnson

46. Blood and Chocolate / Annette Curtis Klause
#
47. Arrow’s Flight / Mercedes Lackey

48. Hattie Big Sky / Kirby Larson

49. To Kill a Mockingbird / Harper Lee X

50. Boy Meets Boy / David Levithan #

51. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks / E. Lockhart X
52. The Giver / Lois Lowry X

53. Number the Stars / Lois Lowry
54. Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie / David Lubar

55. Inexcusable / Chris Lynch

56. The Earth, My Butt and Other Big, Round Things / Carolyn Mackler X
57. Dragonsong / Anne McCaffrey

58. White Darkness / Geraldine McCaughrean
#
59. Sold / Patricia McCormick

60. Jellicoe Road / Melina Marchetta
#
61. Wicked Lovely / Melissa Marr X
62. Twilight / Stephenie Meyer X
63. Dairy Queen / Catherine Murdock X
64. Fallen Angels / Walter Dean Myers

65. Monster / Walter Dean Myers

66. Step From Heaven / An Na

67. Mama Day / Gloria Naylor

68. The Keys to the Kingdom (series) / Garth Nix

69. Sabriel / Garth Nix

70. Airborn / Kenneth Oppel
X
71. Eragon / Christopher Paolini
X
72. Hatchet / Gary Paulsen X
73. Life As We Knew It / Susan Beth Pfeffer 
X
74. The Golden Compass / Phillip Pullman
X
75. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging / Louise Rennison
76. The Lightning Thief / Rick Riordan X
77. Always Running: La Vida Loca / Luis Rodriguez

78. How I Live Now / Meg Rosoff
#
79. Harry Potter (series) / J.K. Rowling X
80. Holes / Louis Sachar 
X
81. Catcher in the Rye / J. D. Salinger #
82. Push / Sapphire

83. Persepolis / Marjane Satrapi 

84. Unwind / Neil Shusterman

85. Coldest Winter Ever / Sister Souljah

86. Stargirl / Jerry Spinelli
87. Chanda’s Secrets / Allan Stratton

88. Tale of One Bad Rat / Brian Talbot

89. Rats Saw God / Rob Thomas

90. Lord of the Rings / J.R.R. Tolkien

91. Stuck in Neutral / Terry Trueman

92. Gossip Girl / Cecily Von Ziegesar X

93. Uglies / Scott Westerfeld X
94. Every Time a Rainbow Dies / Rita Williams-Garcia

95. Pedro and Me / Judd Winick

96. Hard Love / Ellen Wittlinger

97. American Born Chinese / Gene Luen Yang
98. Elsewhere / Gabrielle Zevin 
X
99. I am the Messenger / Markus Zusak
#
100. The Book Thief / Markus Zusak #

Read: 37
To-Read: 13

That's pretty decent I think! And you add on those thirteen, I'll have read an even 50 of the top books. Which is reasonable because I hadn't even heard of a handful of these books.

How do you guys rack up?

Bits 'n Pieces - Justina Chen Headley

Justina Chen Headley is the author of three YA novels: Nothing But The Truth And A Few White Lies, Girl, Overboard, and her newest book, North of Beautiful. I have a copy of North of Beautiful sitting on my shelves begging to be read, and based on all the fantastic reviews it's been getting I've been very stupid to wait this long to read it. You can visit Justina's website here to get to know more about her and her books. Enjoy the interview!

This or that:
Rain or shine?
SHINE!
iPod or mp3 player?
iPod!
Movies or TV?
MOVIES! We are a Netflix family.
City or country?
I am abode-ambidextrous. I rejuvenate in the solitude and peacefulness of the country, but the city feeds my creativity.
Mountains or beaches?
Both. I need both in equal quantities.
Dots or stripes?
Dots
Dogs or cats?
Dogs
Cooking or eating out?
Eating out. (Check out my cooking debacles on my blog at www.justinachenheadley.blogspot.com.) I wish I could cook, but to my children’s everlasting sorrow, I cannot. (But I can bake! Unfortunately, one does not feed brain cells via cookies.)
Coffee or tea?
Tea. Dragonwell tea, to be exact.
Books or magazines?
Need you ask? Books, of course!

Favorites:
Book- 

The Phantom Tollbooth
Book store-

My favorite until it went out of business this year was Chauni Haslet’s All for Kids Books. Now, I love my local Barnes & Noble because of its Community Relations Manager, Brenda Gurung, who is the personification of goodness.
Movie-

Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. Yes, yes, and more yes.
Music artist-

Bono (yup, great voice, incredible mission, ever hip and relevant)
Website-

www.readergirlz.com
Designer-

Milly
Coffee chain- 

Starbucks
Guilty pleasure- 

pinot noir (specifically, my brother’s vineyard: Patton Valley)
Restaurant-

There are too many to count, but I must confess to a serious fondness for sushi.
Color-

Orange

Have you ever:
Lived abroad? 

Yes! I just moved back from Shanghai, China, and spent a year in Sydney, Australia.
Gotten a tattoo? 

Just henna. I love getting henna tattoos as my ritual to welcome summer.
Stayed up for the midnight release of a movie or book? 

Yes…Harry Potter.
Disliked your job? 

Oh, yes. Pulling off stickers on cosmetics boxes was a definite low.
Cried during a movie? 

And during commercials.
Sang karaoke? 

Yup—badly in Tokyo.

Questions:
If you were on a desert island, what 5 things would you bring with you?
A stack of fabulous, blank notebooks and sparkly gel pens (sorry, those are a unit deal).
A cooler filled with fruit, veggies, crackers, peanut butter, and vino.
A man who could win Survivor but is too nice to be cutthroat and who was willing to build me shelter and do my bidding.
Sunscreen.
And a way home.
What’s on the list of things you have to do during your life?
Keep writing novels that matter.
Guide my children so that they fulfill their potential and are happy with themselves.
Shower my family with love.
Build lifelong friendships.
Continue expanding my world through books and travel and classes.
Live with zest and curiosity, untouched by bitterness and regret.
If you could have one super power what would it be?
The ability to create an impenetrable force field to keep the ones I love safe.
What’s your perfect music playlist?
Anything that fills me with happiness and makes me want to dance.
What’s the one food you could eat day after day and not get sick of?
Sushi. Hamachi, to be exact.
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Right at this moment, all I want is the Big Island.
But I’d love to take my kids on an epic journey to Bhutan. And Greece.
What moment in history do you wish you could’ve experienced?
Right now. I am so blissed out that we are living history with our new president. This is an awesome moment.
What does your dream library look like?
A circular room with floor to ceiling built-in bookshelves which you can reach with a mobile ladder. The entire room is anchored with a lovely fireplace. There are cozy chairs and ottomans, throw blankets, and tables to rest mugs of tea and hot chocolate. The shelves are filled with books—all autographed and first edition, of course—and there is an entire wall dedicated to my friends’ works. There might be a skylight where the sun would warm the room in the day, and the stars would twinkle overhead at night.
When you walk into a bookstore, where do you head first?
The Teen Section. Where else is there to go?
If everyone had to read one book, what would you have it be?
I would love it if Bill and Melinda Gates wrote a book about philanthropy, inspiring everyday people to take up community service. The book would kick off with a foreword by Bono (and each book would include a CD with a song that Bono wrote to activate people to help the world in an unpreachy but compelling way).
Not to be too pushy, but here’s the content I want.
I want an overview of Bill and Melinda’s philosophy of giving: what calls them to action and why. I want chapters about how they make their decisions about where to give—especially since there are so many problems in the world to solve. How they determine the amount to allocate. How they quantify the results and determine whether their gift made a difference. How they integrate their children into their mission to make the world better.
I want a how-to guide for regular people to do the same. (This can either be a companion book by Bill Drayton or three or so chapters in Bill and Melinda’s book of goodness.)
Then (I know, I know, I do tend to think big, but why not when we have a world to change): I want Oprah to partner with the Gates and create a distinct fund for families to make a difference together. This would be kicked off on a special New Year’s Day show with footage of Bill and Melinda showcasing some of their work around the world—in libraries here at home and abroad in Africa. Then Oprah would show the Best of her Angel Network—a montage of real people doing real good. And then…President Obama and the First Lady would end the show with their call to action for Americans to do what we have always done, what is at the core of our country: to reach out generously and help those who need our help.
That book must be written. This global challenge needs to be issued. And the time for it is now.

That was the BEST last answer ever. Seriously. Thank you so much Justina!