#48 - Born to Rock by Gordon Korman

I must be in a hurry to finish CBR, I have been reading YA non-stop. Well, the first 4 was a series so I guess that makes it a little better. This is just some random book I picked up at a used bookstore, it sounded interesting. YA rock and roll fiction.

Leo Caraway is a typical Type A achiever. Young Republican, Harvard bound, scholarship holder. But he is not some douchebag asshole, he is just a good hardworking kid, who just wants to do well in life. And he's not actually that typical. His bestfriend is an abrasive punk/goth girl, and he finds out, his biological father is actually King Maggot (or is he?), vox for one of the most influential punk bands in history (book history). When he loses his scholarship (due to him basically being a good guy and doing the right thing), he decides to find his father and try to get some harvard tuition money out of him.

What happens next is a madcap adventure, with him serving as a roadie in Purge's reunion tour. The situation is at times awesome and at times horrible. But it leads to some bonding time with his father and some sexy time with the bestfriend. He, in typical YA fashion, learns something about his parentage, the world, and most importantly himself.

I liked the way the paternity issue was resolved. I think it was unusual and deliciously bittersweet. On the whole though, I though it was just an ok read. Nothing special really. I am just a sucker for "rock and roll" books, but this one was not that inspiring. Not horrible but sort of bland.

# 47 - Ms. Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

X-men, Victorian edition (actually, 1940, but the pictures feel more Victorian). Present day, Jacob is a typical disaffected youth, pharmacy heir, and loner. Poor little rich kid he was. However, his close relationship with this peculiar grandfather proves a gateway to fantastical adventures. His grandfather always had weird stories (and even weirder photographs) for Jacob, which unfortunately, as Jacob becomes older seems more and more like just his grandfather's fantastical imagination.

His grandfather's death, though, leads Jacob to see the horrible monsters his grandfather has long been afraid of, and to learn that the stories may be true after all.

So there are kids with superpowers, time travelling and whatnot. It was an ok book but came eay below my expectations considering the creepy pictures. I was really expecting something a bit darker and deeper and creepier. Not so much the standard fantasy/adventure that this book was. The plot, as well as the monsters, just seemed a bit childish to me. Well, this is after all a YA book, so maybe, as noted in my Uglies review, I am too old for YA. I hope not.

But the pictures! Man, the pictures are the best part of the book, as well as how the author managed to make stories around the picture. That was cool, yeah.

# 43, 44, 45 and 46 - Uglies, Pretties, Specials and Extras by Scott Westerfeld

I read the series in the course of 2 days, when I was taking my MCLE (Mandatory Continuing Legal Education), that's two 9-hour days of lectures which are supposedly updates, but really was more like a review. I am not ashamed to admit that I love YA, and I am very proud that I like sci-fi. I was not initially drawn to these books which were ubiquitous in out local bookstore chain. I just seemed too glossy, like Gossip Girls or Vampire Diaries, only with extra sci-fi. But., I read a lot of positive reviews so I decided to try it out.

One thing I will say, it is definitely a fast read, and a compulsive one. Or maybe I was really bored in the aforementioned 2 9-hour days. Well, anyway, I did finish it in 18 hours, more or less, so that's something.

The story was interesting, but also a bit implausible (yes, I know it's sci fi). So in the far future, humanity has retreated to enclosed (but not, like, heavily guarded. or is it?) cities where everyone is turned pretty on their 16th birthday. At least, that's the case in the city our heroine, Tally Youngblood lives. She is a normal teenager, feeling grossly ugly and super excited to turn pretty. But things get interesting when she meets a rebellious friend and learns that there is a different life outside of the city walls and that turning pretty might not just be a physical thing. The first three books focus on Tally's story of being an ugly, turning pretty, and then becoming special. The fourth volume, extras, is a stand-along story with new characters and Tally and the gang showing up in the middle of the book.

Did I like it? It was ok. Not so much. It was a bit too YA for me. Although it dealt with issues which are good to think over and discuss with kids, it was too obvious for me. Like, kids, you are beautiful just the way you are! Kids, what is peace without freedom?! And everything was too pat sometimes. And as I said, I found the premise itself a bit unbelievable, as in, I cannot believe that that is one of the possible roads humanity might be taking. Extras, is a little more based on the present world where worth is ranked through how popular one is, and everyone is followed around by their own personal news feed. Sounds more like the present, yeah?

I got interested though, in the mythology of how the world got to be the way it was. I enjoy the big picture much better that the interpersonal drama of the characters.

All in all, it was ok. I didn't hate it. Just a normal YA book. Maybe I was spoiled on amazing YA that a pretty good one seems just ok to me. Or maybe I'm too old for this shit.

#42 Room by Emma Donoghue

actual review date: January 3, 2011

Jack is a normal 5 year old. If not slightly more precocious. He plays, reads books and watches TV. However, the world as he knows it is just a tiny room with a bathroom and sink. Everything is a proper noun, since that is the only one of these things that he has ever seen. Jack lives in this room because his mother had been abducted by a very bad man. He was actually born in the very same room. It is all he knows. You would think that a book narrated by a 5 year old would be unbelievably precocious or on the opposite side of the scale, too juvenile, but the author gets just the right tone for the narrator.

Jack is naive but also wise in his ways. His Ma is the only person he knows and she is a remarkable one at that. The first part of the book takes place inside Room, but the second part shifts and takes place Outside.

The book is interesting in that it shows not only what captivity might feel like but how difficult it might be to be Outside. The Mom is not the typical saintly (though she is an amazing woman) victim.

In short, yes, iut deserved all the hype. I really liked this book.

#41 Touching the Void by Joe Simpson

This is a short and quite straightforward recounting of a climb that very nearly turned disastrous. Well, it was actually disastrous, but the author, with a little luck and a lot of determination was able to survive. It is, essentially a survival story and a story about the triumph of the human spirit.

Joe Simpson and his friend Simon Yates made an attempt to climb a previously unclimed West face of the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. They were able to reach the summit and things were going relatively well until Simpson fell and broke his tibia. Yates then had to tie him to a rope and lower him down the mountain. However, Yates, unable to see far ahead, lowered Simpson into a cliff. Faced with no other choice but to cut off the rope or be carried down himself, Yates cut the rope connecting to Simpson and sent him to his presumably certain death. However, Simpson dragged and hopped his way back to their base camp, through grinding pain, fatigue, thirst and hunger. He arrived just hours before Yates, thinking that he was a goner for sure, was set to pack up their camp.

The story is fast moving, and even though you know Simpson survives (duh), very thrilling. It is excruciating to read. It feels very painful. And you are left with admiration for Simpson's will to live. And more, the experience did not stop him from climbing again.

I used to do some mountain climbing, but my country being tropical, it is all fairly chill. It is very fun and challenging and just awesome to be on top of the world. Having said that, I would never ever climb in high altitude. It just seems so dangerous and I'm not sure I've got it in me. But yeah, the book. It's good. Exciting and inspiring.

# 40 The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

During the 14th century, during the time that the Catholic church was divided about the controversy of Apostolic poverty, Franciscan friar William of Baskerville , with his an accompanying novice, Adso of Melk, travelled to a monastery in Italy, namely to attend a talk between the two sides of the controversy. However, once there, some suspicious deaths prompt the abbott to ask assistance from William, him being known to have superior intellect, in solving such murders.

The book is primarily a mystery, but is much more than that. William and Adso quite obviously reference Sherlock Holmes and Watson. William uses deductive reasoning to solve stuff. It also has extensive discussions about theology, the afore mentioned issue on Apostolic poverty, the different Catholic orders at the time, and the two popes. It paints a great picture of the Catholic Church, its policies, its politics and beliefs during the medieval period. It actually led me to want to learn more about that topic. As a mystery, it also works pretty wall. It is absorbing, puzzling and quite thrilling at times.

Overall, a great book which I loved and will probably join the prestigious ranks of one of my favourites. hah.

# 39 One Day by David Nicholls

actual review date: January 3, 2011

I must admit I find it a little weird that the younger sister was able to read this book before I did. I mean, I'm supposed to be the cool one, aren't I? I must admit thought, that I was clueless about this book until all the Anne Hathaway brouhaha.

The format of the novel is a novelty. Em and Dex first get together on their graduation day, July 15, 1988. They spend some time together but it doesn't really blossom into a full-fledged relationship. We then revisit these two people, Em and Dex every year, on the same date, to see where they are with their lives. Sometime they are together, sometimes apart, sometimes Em is up, sometimes Dex is. It just tells us about these peoples lives through their relationship with each other. With the added bonus of the will they won't they question.

The book lives and dies by the two main characters. When we first meet Em, she is idealistic, feminist and wants to change the world. Dex is old money, is happy with his priviledged existence. He is as shallow as shallow gets while she is desperately trying to find a deeper meaning. Somehow, they do make a special connection that spans their lifetime. As they grow older, they grow (or stagnate or regress). I didn't especially like the either of them but I loved their relationship and how despite all the bullshit, they were there. Although it can be said that Em was the better person and that she made Dex better, brought out the goodness in him.

The whole premise could be so chick-lit, and the twist positively Nick Sparks-ian (oops spoiler) but its not. There's a matter of factness, a grounded-ness to the story. There is an examination of class and status. This is life. Dark shit happens. People you love will disappoint you, you will be disappoint yourself. Sometimes you find yourself and your love. Sometimes you lose them. It was good,