Teaser Tuesday - 1

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My book: Some Girls Are - Courtney Summers


'I rush to the door, but before I can open it, he's on me, crushing me into place from behind and breathing so hard in my ear, I can't even hear the vague sounds of the music outside or in. What turns a moment into this - me against the door, him against me.'

Book synopsis: Climbing to the top of the social ladder is hard--falling from it is even harder. Regina Afton used to be a member of the Fearsome Fivesome, an all-girl clique both feared and revered by the students at Hallowell High... until vicious rumors about her and her best friend's boyfriend start going around.

Now Regina's been "frozen out" and her ex-best friends are out for revenge. If Regina was guilty, it would be one thing, but the rumors are far from the terrifying truth and the bullying is getting more intense by the day.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

Its Monday, What are You Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheilia at One Person's Journey Through a World of Books in which you discuss what books you are reading this week and books you have completed reading last week.

So, last week I finished reading:

Fallen - Lauren Kate (sent to me by Sharon at Curled Up).

I loved this one and am planning to review it tomorrow. I'll post a preview of my review up soon and the full review once it's posted at Curled Up. I did have reservations that Fallen was going to end up being a Twilight rip off but, I'm very very pleased to say, it wasn't at all. It was fantastic.

Some Girls Are - Courtney Summers (sent to me by Sharon at Curled Up).

I really enjoyed Some Girls Are. It shows how cruel teenagers can be and really lays bare how complicated teenage life really is. That said, it wasn't all doom and gloom and I'll be posting a preview of my review up here soon.

This week I'm planning on reading/reviewing:

Girl, Interrupted - Susanna Kaysen.

I've been wanting to read this book for a while now and I'm only part way through but I'm really blown away by it. I haven't read a book so intense since The Bell Jar and I'm very excited about reviewing this one.

The Liberators - Philip Womack (Sent to me by Luisa at Chicklish).

I just started The Liberators today on the train on the way home from work (stupid busy rush hour train; spent the entire journey being jostled by college kids who kept standing on my boots, grrr!) and I'm already hooked!

Fly on the Wall - E. Lockhart.

I already reviewed one of Emily's other novels last week and I loved it so much I ordered Fly on the Wall, which I can't wait to get started on.

Wildlife - Joe Stretch (sent to me by Random House).

I posted a review of Joe Stretch's debut novel, Friction, a couple of weeks ago and I received Wildlife last week from Random House. Friction was a great book and I'm really intrigued by Wildlife so I'm looking forward to reading and reviewing it.

Reading Challenge - Lost Books Challenge

So as I mentioned in my post on Friday I love Lost, yes yes I do. As you can imagine I was more than excited to stumble across the Lost Books Challenge (if anyone else is interested you can view the challenge here: http://lostbookschallenge.blogspot.com/2009/01/sign-up-for-lost-books-challenge.html).

Basically, before Season 6 ends on May 23rd (sob) I'll be reading books featured in Lost and reviewing them here, also discussing how they tie in with the series. Anyone who watches Lost knows what a literary show it is and how important the books featured are so I'm really excited about this. A while ago me and some friends started a Lost book club (sad? Yes. However, I do not care) so I'm looking forward to picking up where I left off.

The books I'm going to be reading between now and May are:

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Animal Farm - George Orwell
Carrie - Stephen King (Okay, I've read this one but I'll be writing a new review)
Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
The Turn of the Screw (Well I've read this one too but I haven't reviewed it before)
Watership Down - Richard Adams.

In My Mailbox - 3

In My Mailbox is a weekly post hosted by Kristi who's over at The Story Siren. I had quite a few books through this week so here they are:

Direct from Random House:




Bought myself:

Review: The Boyfriend List - E. Lockhart

Published: 2005, Delacorte Press

Acquired: Bought by myself

“Agonizingly funny” was what Girl’s Life Magazine called The Boyfriend List and, although I generally don’t agree with such displays of hyperbole, this time I was in complete agreement. The Boyfriend List (and it’s sequel, The Boy Book) is a laugh out loud, honest look at teenage life and all its complications.

Our heroine is the brilliant Ruby Oliver, who is definitely one of my favourite teen protagonists; she’s a real breath of fresh air in the sea of perfectly manicured leading ladies we’ve become accustomed to seeing in young adult fiction.

The Boyfriend List is the story of Ruby’s experiences (or perhaps lack of) with the opposite sex, starting from the very beginning and not leaving anybody out (however unpleasant the memory may be). The Boyfriend List was an assignment given to her by her shrink, Doctor Z, and was supposed to make things easier. However, as we find out, the list causes Ruby nothing but trouble, especially when her list of conquests finds itself in the hands of her old best friend (and super bitch), Kim.

One of the things I loved so much about The Boyfriend List is Lockhart’s writing style. From the outset I felt as though me and Ruby were old friends, catching up on gossip after time spent apart. Lockhart’s tone is so familiar and friendly that you can’t help but get caught up in Ruby’s (complicated) world.

The footnotes are another excellent part of the book. I’ve seen them used in numerous young adult books but never as well as Lockhart uses them. They’re used sparingly, which is important to stop the joke wearing thin and lift the book beyond the confines of your average teen story of an awkward teen struggling through high school.

There are a lot of male characters in this book. Ruby’s list consists of exactly fifteen specimens but Lockhart manages to create a host of unique characters, each with individual flaws and merits that helps bring them to life.

However, where the male characters are so strong, I felt the girls were a little lacking in both character and charm. Meghan seemed to have as much personality as a beige sock (although she comes into her own in The Boy Book) and Cricket wasn’t much better. For somebody with such great characterisation skills, I felt a little let down by Lockhart’s lack of creativity for the girls.

Uninspiring female characters aside, I loved The Boyfriend List, devoured its sequel in a matter of hours and am eagerly awaiting the third instalment in the Ruby Oliver series (as long as Ruby and Noel end up together that is).

Rating:

Writing: 4.5/5

Plot: 4/5

Characters: 4/5

Cover: 3.5/5

Total: 16/20

Lost - Season 6, Episode 1-2

So, you may or may not know that I'm an absolutely massive Lost fan. I've been ridiculously excited about the premiere of season 6 (the last season, sad face) pretty much since the end of season 5 and I finally watched the first two episodes last night with my wonderful boyfriend Mark (aka Faraday), number one Lost fan Matt (Jack lover) and a bottle of champagne.

Yes, yes, they're not on Sky 1 in the UK 'til tomorrow, I'm a bad person but it totally would have been spoiled if I hadn't watched it early. Don't worry though, I'm not going to post any spoilers until Saturday, by which time everyone in the UK will have had a chance to watch it. I'll put a big massive *SPOILER* warning at the top of my post so nothing will be ruined for anyone.

All I will say, though, is I absolutely adored it. It was brilliant, brought up some awesome questions and I just know this series is going to be amazing already. Ahhh, so good, so confusing as always but excellent!

I'll be back on Saturday morning with an in depth review of the first two episodes, a list of things to think about before next week's episode and my list of predictions for season 6. Until then, namaste (I am a geek, I do not care).

Reivew: Friction - Joe Stretch

Published: 2008, Vintage


Acquired: Sent to me by the lovely Fiona at Random House







“Life in Manchester is sexy and stinking. Hold your breath.” So begins the blurb of Stretch’s debut novel, Friction. Believe me, I was holding my breath. Books about illicit sex between attractive twenty-somethings generally seem to disappoint and, to be honest, my expectations of Friction were not particularly high. However, Stretch’s writing style is infectious, his characters brilliantly crafted and his story electric.

Friction is the story of six characters, told by a nameless, faceless narrator who is holed up in an Orwellian asylum, pondering each person’s relationship with sex. We have Carly, the ‘fit as fuck’ sex mad girlfriend of Steve, who only cares about money and cool haircuts. Their relationship is based around sex, cash and a constant power struggle, particularly when Steve finds himself second best to Carly’s newly acquired sex machine.

Justin and Rebecca start off as strangers but, after Justin inherits sixty thousand pounds he teams up with stripper (and Dostoevsky enthusiast) Rebecca and together they seek out ‘brand new ways of having sex’, which take a dangerous turn when Colin, a lonely psychopath who lives in a rat infested apartment, gets involved. And finally there’s Johnny, the virgin. All his wants is sex, preferably with Rebecca.

Something that really interested me was the narrator’s tone of voice. He genuinely seems as though he can’t really be bothered to tell the story. Any secondary characters are given the simple monikers of ‘Boy 1’ or ‘Girl 2’ and he frequently ends a sentence with ‘blah, blah, blah’, as if it doesn’t really matter what exactly is going on, as long as we get the gist.

By the time I’d finished the final chapter I was feeling a little depressed. Everything just seemed so hopeless and I couldn’t help but think the consumer-driven, hateful world depicted in Friction is not so different from the world we’re living in today. Maybe it’s only a matter of time before we ditch our men and parade around strapped to a Japanese sex robot. Then again, maybe not.

The epilogue, though, was a stroke of genius and elevates this novel from an average debut to a work of art. With the new slant on things the epilogue gives us, I suddenly saw Friction in a whole new light and realised what a clever writer Stretch really is.

On the surface Friction seems like a quick, sexy read that you can flash through in a matter of hours but if you look a bit deeper you’ll find the sort of excellent writing that so rarely finds its way into an author’s debut novel, particularly one as contentious as Stretch’s first effort. Friction is controversial but it doesn’t rest on the shock factor. While reading Friction I was reminded, more than once, of J. G. Ballard’s fantastic style and I thought of Crash many times which, in my opinion, can only be a good thing.

Rating:

Writing: 4.5/5

Plot: 3/5

Characters: 3.5/5

Cover: 3.5/5

Total: 14/20