Love and Leftovers Review and Thoughts

Wow, I just finished Love and Leftovers by Sarah Tregay. It was in verse which I used to hate and am starting to see as a viable way to write books, and this one was beautiful. It seemed true to what people feel when they like a boy and don't know if they are falling in love or not, and there were some points where I thought ah ha! That's what it means to be falling in love, but when I'd go back to look for that passage, I couldn't find it. It was like a fleeting thought, just like knowing that you're in love can be a hard thing to figure out, and the thought may be fleeting.

I did mark a few passages that I really liked and thought got to the root of looking for love and possibly finding it and how to know the difference between lust and just wanting a body or being lonely and what it's like when you have passion - "love, conversation, understanding, and the physical stuff - all stirred together" (289). I think that starts to get at it. It's more than hormones and just getting a fix; it's liking someone for their adorable ways that no one else sees and forming a deep friendship and listening to your heart, as abstract as that is.

Have I figured it out yet? Well, I'm not very good at that abstract stuff, but I think I'm on my way with this one guy and thanks to this book. This book gave me chills at the right moments and made me confused when the characters were confused and made me want to start the book over again as soon as I had finished it. I'm not as good as expressing my thoughts as Sarah Tregay, but I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes reading about love and any teenager out there who is confused or who is in high school, because I think this book captures a typical high schooler experience very well.

I'm up to almost 3.5 hours, or $14 so far. Next up is the Anybodies, a wonderful book by Julianna Baggott or N.E. Bode, the first of three.

48HBC: Wednesday Wars

Update: Currently at 7 hrs, 52 min of reading/blogging time and 1 hour, 9 min of networking time, for a total of 9 hrs, 1 min as of 17 hours into my start. (I'm using a stop watch to keep track of my time so a)I don't have to remember when I started/stopped reading and b)because I'm kind of anal like that and want to be exact.) I feel quite accomplished. I'm on my 4th book right now.

My second book for today was The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt because I've been hearing so much talk about Okay for Now by Schmidt and read that one of the characters is originally in The Wednesday Wars. I really like to read previous books about people (when I know about them) before the next book.

This book made me wish I had paid more attention in high school English when teachers talked about themes and symbols and "crap" like that. Now that I'm reading more advanced books, I'd like to understand them as well. If I stop and think about what certain parts of the book mean, I can come up with a meaning, but usually when I ask someone else, they come up with what I think of as a better meaning. There may be no wrong or right (contrary to HS English teachers' beliefs) but some meanings are better than others.

The Wednesday Wars talks a lot about Shakespeare, and I'm sure that the author put in the specific parts and plays to make some type of symbolic connection. It makes the book that much more interesting. I thought this book was powerful because it talks about the Vietnam War and a relationship between authority and students, specifically one teacher - Mrs. Baker - and one student - Holling Hoodhood. She hates his guts at the beginning, as he puts it, but she does warm up to her here and there. Schmidt makes some smart moves in this book by making you think all is "swell" when the next chapter, walls (or the ceiling in this case) come tumbling down. He writes a shocker or two into the book as well.

One main theme of the book is being who you want to be, not what someone else wants you to be. Holling learns this early on through The Merchant of Venice but doesn't apply it until much later. On page 48 he says people trapped a Shakespeare character into being a certain way without allowing him to "be anything except for what he was." This plays into the story within Holling's family throughout the book.

There are many parts I found to be profound and many great Shakespearean lines in this book. I highly recommend it and look forward to Okay for Now.

Can I See Your I.D.? by Chris Barton

After waiting awhile for Can I See Your I.D.? by Chris Barton, published by Dial Books, and then waiting for my library to prep it to be checked out, I was stoked to see it ready for me today. I also finished reading it today. It's a quick read, only 121 pages including the acknowledgements. I liked it a lot, so 121 pages went by too quickly for me.

Can I See Your I.D.? gives 10 "true stories of false identities," including the famous one of Frank Abagnale Jr. from the movie Catch Me If You Can. It has stories as recent as 15 years ago and from nearly 200 years ago. It includes men and women.

The most interesting and unique thing about this book is the perspective it's in. Instead of the usual first or third person, this book is written from the 2nd person, using "you." Barton tries to get you in the head of each of these people so you really feel what it's like to be this person and understand his or her motive. Some motives are survival while others are for thrill or a better life.

I liked the way the chapters were set up with the name and fake identity along with date, place, and illustrations about the deception and what's coming up in the chapter. At the end Barton would tell us what happened to the person in the end, possibly my favorite part of each chapter.

While learning a bit about 10 people in our history who you may never have heard of, you're also learning about yourself. What would it take for you to take on a new identity? What IS your identity now? Barton himself realizes that these are good questions to ask and think about, and he writes about this in the Afterword. He asks, "who do you think you are?" (113) and brings more to this book than just a unique perspective and information about these identities. I think his goal is to have the reader put his/herself in the shoes of these people and really think about how he/she would have reacted in each situation. At the end of the Afterword he says that each person had a reason to be someone else and asks, "Can you imagine what yours would be?" (118).

I think this would be a good book for reluctant readers, especially boys, because it talks about fear and stress and the adrenaline of pretending to be someone else but in short chunks and an overall short book.

You can find a discussion guide for Can I See Your I.D.? here: Discussion Guide and his homepage here: Homepage. Chris Barton also wrote Shark vs. Train and The Day-Glo Brothers. Both are excellent books I would suggest checking out. You can follow him on Twitter @Bartography.

Traveling Cross Country with Coke and Pep Part 2

Here is the continuation of Coke and Pep's journey across the United States.

After sleeping in Lincoln, NE, the McDonalds head to Darwin, MN for the other possible largest ball of twine besides in Cawker City, KS.

Next, they stay in MN to see the SPAM museum in Austin, MN. This is the HQ of Hormel. I remember my family trying to see this museum several years back, but we were there too early in the morning for it to be open. It actually sounds very interesting.

The last MN stop is in Minneapolis to find the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices, but it turns out even the museum itself is questionable as it no longer exists. Mrs. McDonald is certainly bummed about this.

The last place the twins get to go before the book ends is in Spring Green, WI to visit the House on the Rock. The author has included some authentic photos of the place in the book, and it looks very interesting. It sounds cool, too, with the labyrinth of rooms to visit and get lost in, ending with the long "room" out over the rock.

When Genius Files #2 comes out, be sure to check back here for another post on the continuation of Coke and Pep's journey across the United States!

Traveling Cross Country with Coke and Pepsi

This post is about Coke and Pep(si) McDonald from Genius Files #1: Mission Unstoppable by Dan Gutman. I wanted to make a list of the places that they travel so people can follow along with them. Gutman makes a point to mention that all these places are real and even helps us follow along with side notes in the book telling us what city to look at next. This post will take the McDonalds from California to Cawker City, Kansas.

First they went to Burlingame, CA and visited the Pez Museum, or Museum of Pez Memorabilia as Gutman calls it.

Next was Chico, CA and the National Yo-Yo Museum. Coke's mom loves all these little random places. He puts it well, though, when he says, "We're driving two hours out of our way to look at some yo-yos?" I think I would feel the same way if I were 12, going on 13. (page 119).

Due to a twist in the story, the twins, Coke and Pep decide it's better if they skip Lake Tahoe, although I've heard it's a great place to go swimming and kayaking.

Instead, they continue on to Truckee, CA and the Emigrant Trail Museum where you can see the Donner Party Exhibit and Donner Memorial State Park, something Pep is delighted to see!

After a night at the campground, they head to Fallon, NV to Sand Mountain to listen to the Singing Sand Dunes.

Next, the group (don't worry, Coke and Pep have their parents along) heads just past the border of UT and NV to Wendover, UT where it's the dad's turn to enjoy the Bonneville Salt Flats.

After UT they went to Evanston, WY, about an hour east of Salt Lake City. This was the first town they hit in WY. But we quickly move on to Cheyenne, WY, the last big city in WY on I-80. The family stops in Kimball, NE for the night.

They stop at Fort Cody Trading Post in North Platte, NE and see a "gigantic Buffalo Bill" statue and "one of the largest souvenir shops in America." (page 182).

Their last stop before Cawker City, KS is in Lebanon, KS to stand in the exact geographic center of the continental United States.

Cawker City, KS - home of the world's largest ball of twine. Coke and Pep have been eagerly awaiting their arrival here, and Mrs. McDonald is interested in seeing it, too. Why would two 12-year olds be so interested in this attraction? What is waiting for them in Kansas?

Read The Genius Files: Mission Unstoppable by Dan Gutman to find the answers to these questions!

Summer Gives More Time for Reading

Accounting and work got the better of me during May. Graduating college is important, I figured. So, I focused on my studies instead of on reading. Now, however, I have much more time to read, especially while not working this week. I had seen on my Barnes and Noble email that there was a new Jason Bourne book (Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy, Bourne Ultimatum, all by Robert Ludlum) and decided to check it out. The Bourne Deception is actually the 7th in the series, the last four written by Eric van Lustbader, but still attributed to Robert Ludlum. I didn't even hesitate like I usually would after finding out it was not the next one in the series; I had finally found a promising book to read!

After a few pages, it's clear that it's a Bourne book because of the action and foreshadowing involved. '"It's as they say: On Bali time stands still, and in that stillness lie many lifetimes,"' says Bourne's latest girl, Moira, while they relax on the island. But soon enough, you meet the next guy trying to kill Bourne - Leonid Danilovich Arkadin. He is very good at what he does, clearly. Arkadin plans well and yet, he stays out of the limelight. Quickly four other characters come into view, as well, but van Lustbader does a good job of helping the reader keep the story lines straight by putting the characters' names in the first sentence of each new paragraph/section.

This takes place in Munich, Germany; Bali, Indonesia' the Swiss Alps, Azerbaijan, Egypt and Washington, D.C. in the first hundred pages. Moira has her new and literally risky business in D.C. and Bourne's action is in Bali while Arkadin travels to Azerbaijan after Bali. Van Lustbader sets up the details of each place very well so that the reader always knows where he or she is. Munich has "The newborn morning ... drowsing, barely awake, and utterly silent. The trees, well manicured and leafy, dappled the sidewalks in inky shade. The air was soft and cool, as yet innocent of the harsh sun that would turn the sky white in a few hours' time" (33). That clashes with Egypt, described as "hotter than Hades."

The description is one part of the book that I love. He uses precise color words for each new thing, whether it's "ultramarine blue," "sea-blue," or "icy blue," showing that he knows how to paint a picture in your head. The verbs, adverbs, and phrases are all descriptive and well-said, too. The only problem I have is small; there are errors that might be considered if this were not written in a literary sense but needing to be grammatically correct. Double negatives like "not unsympathetically" or "with no little sarcasm" and repetitive phrases like "Soraya herself" momentarily detract from the story but arguably could be appropriate.

I'm about 1/4 of the way into the book, and I find it interesting and something I would recommend to action lovers. Once you have seen a Bourne movie, you can imagine the characters and how The Bourne Deception would play out perfectly in another film.