The Age of Miracles

The Age of Miracles

By: Karen Thompson Walker

On a seemingly ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, 11-year-old Julia and her family awake to discover, along with the rest of the world, that the rotation of the earth has suddenly begun to slow. The days and nights grow longer and longer, gravity is affected, the environment is thrown into disarray. Yet as she struggles to navigate an ever-shifting landscape, Julia is also coping with the normal disasters of everyday life--the fissures in her parents’ marriage, the loss of old friends, the hopeful anguish of first love, the bizarre behavior of her grandfather who, convinced of a government conspiracy, spends his days obsessively cataloging his possessions. As Julia adjusts to the new normal, the slowing inexorably continues.

I heard a lot of mixed reviews about this book, despite that it won some pretty prestigious awards. It was pitched as a sort of literary fiction combined with science fiction, which got me very intrigued. It took me a couple years to finally pick it up, but I'm so glad I did. This book took me completely by surprise in the best way.

The defining trait of this book for me was the writing. It's so ethereal at some times and so clinical at others, but it works. I don't often say this, but the exposition chapters in this book, the chapters that were literally only giving you information about the world straight from the narrator, were some of my favorites.

This book also succeeded in capturing the essence of a collapsing world, even if it wasn't scientifically feasible. The human reactions felt so genuine in everyone from the middle-school kids to Julia's grandfather.

I can't say that I connected with any of the characters, at least, not on a really deep level, but while that usually bothers me, I was still so entranced by the story. It didn't matter that I personally didn't feel like these characters, I knew how these characters felt, and that was enough to keep me invested. That's not to say I didn't feel for them, it just means that I felt for humanity in a broader sense. The world was falling apart, and it made you feel that impending doom deeper than a connection. (I don't even know if I articulated this correctly or if it makes any sense, but I did my best.)

Reading this book is a kind of surreal experience. Dreamlike and eerie, but also raw. So atmospheric and destructive, but not only destructive. Things are built through all the destruction, relationships and new bonds.

And don't even get me started on the writing. Seriously, it is so beautiful and poetic. It uses the science of the book to make statements about human nature and the workings of society in wonderful and thought-provoking ways, while maintaining the sheer gorgeousness of its prose. Just read some of the quotes I've included below and you'll see what I mean. Karen Thompson Walker has a firm hand on language and how to use it to the story's best advantage.

I really, really enjoyed this book. It's hard to describe in any certain terms without you actually reading it. But, trust me, this book is phenomenal. I highly recommend it, it will surely by like nothing you've ever read.

Quotes:

“How much sweeter life would be if it all happened in reverse, if, after decades of disappointments, you finally arrived at an age when you had conceded nothing, when everything was possible.”  

"But I guess it never is what you worry over that comes to pass in the end. The real catastrophes are always different - unimagined, unprepared for, unknown."

"It was that time of life: Talents were rising to the surface, weaknesses were beginning to show through, we were finding out what kind of people we would be. Some would turn out beautiful, some funny, some shy. Some would be smart, others smarter. The chubby ones would likely always be chubby. The beloved, I sensed, would be beloved for life. And I worried that loneliness might work that way, too. Maybe loneliness was imprinted in my genes, lying dormant for years but now coming into full bloom."

“Who knows how fast a second-guess can travel? Who has ever measured the exact speed of regret?...No law of physics can account for desire.”

"We were too young to be scared, too immersed in our own small worlds, too convinced of our own permanence."

"It takes a certain kind of bravery, I suppose, to choose the status quo. There's a certain boldness to inaction."  

“Doesn't every previous era feel like fiction once it's gone? After a while, certain vestigial sayings are all that remain. Decades after the invention of the automobile, for instance, we continue to warn each other not to put the cart before the horse. So, too, we do still have daydreams and nightmares, and the early morning clock hours are still known colloquially (if increasingly mysteriously) as the crack of dawn.”

"I liked the idea, how the past could be preserved, fossilized in the stars." 

“We were, on that day, no different from the ancients, terrified of our own big sky.”

"Sometimes death is proof of life. Sometimes decay points out a certain verve. We were young and we were hungry. We were strong and growing stronger, so healthy we were bursting."

"And this one fact seemed to point to other facts and others still: Love frays and humans fail, time passes, eras end."

TTT: Cover Trends I Like and Dislike

Cover Trends I Like and Dislike

Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they have a different Top Ten list topic that a bunch of bloggers take and make their own list of those things.
Things I Like:
1. Illustrated Covers


2. Really cool spines
I can't show pictures of these because I don't know where to find them, but I've been seeing more and more of them recently. I really like the striped ones like the Huntley Fitzpatrick books or Landline by Rainbow Rowell.

3. Prominently typographical covers


4. Really dynamic colors that complement other books in the series


5. Images on the inside of the dust jacket.
Again, I don't have images for this, but have you seen the Since You've Been Gone dust jacket? It has a wicked cool picture on the inside. It's SO cool! And the inside of Clockwork Princess' and City of Heavenly Fire are great, too.

Things I Dislike:
*Quick Disclaimer: All of these things can be done well occasionally. It's just that most of the time they are not.*

1. I know everyone says this, but what is with the face covers? They're usually horrific, which is why I hate them.

2. Girls in dresses. It can be done well and in a way that I love (See, The Winner's Curse and These Broken Stars), but there are so many that look so alike and the covers clearly have nothing to do with the books.

3. Cover changes (particularly bad cover changes, like Crewel. I love good changes like Stephanie Perkins' books or Shatter Me)

4. People making out. JUST STOP. Those are so awkward to read in public, okay?

Ruin and Rising

Ruin and Rising

By: Leigh Bardugo



The capital has fallen. The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne. Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army. Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives. Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for.

I was dreading this book so hard, not because I didn't expect it to be fantastic, but becauase I KNEW IT WOULD CRUSH ME. I love this series, this world, and these characters. And I am devastated that it's over, but this book delivered. It was everything that I wanted and so much more. Every page of this book was a absolute piece of beauty.

 

Warning: This review will have spoilers for the other two books in the series and may have some slight plot-based spoilers for the beginning of this book.

Characters:
Alina: I really appreciate her as a character, and her growth is astounding. From naïve and lonely, to leader of an army, then to a saint, and beyond. She was strong in this book, selfless when she needed to be, and ultimately a true heroine. Fierce and loyal, to others as well as to herself. I'm sad to say goodbye to her, but I am so happy with where she ended up. The entirety of her journey if a perfect arc, with plenty of ups and downs, and a gorgeous resolution.

Mal: I always underestimate Mal, or maybe until this book he didn't deserve my overestimation. He's grown a whole lot as well. I loved him in this book, not just because he's a well-drawn character, but also because he's so wonderfully brave and selfless. His growth is shown is his acceptance of his past mistakes and his determination (determination to the point of frustration, to the point of self-denial, to the point of ultimate bravery). He won my respect in this book, and in the end, he gained my love, as well.

Nikolai: I am in love with Nikolai Lantsov, completely and irrevocably. There is no not-loving Nikolai. There is only Nikolai.
Okay, I'll try to make more sense now that you know about my UNDYING LOVE FOR HIM.

...Darn it. I really was trying to be coherent there. Let's try a third time. Nikolai Lantsov is a beautifully written character, so well developed. I understand him, I've been made to feel like I understand him, despite his neverending complexities. He's charming, but he still feels deeply. He's witty, but sometimes you see him break which makes it all the more heartbreaking. He's a natural leader, but he wasn't born that way. There is so much that he is, and so much that he actively chooses to be that I admire.
He's definitely one of my favorite literary characters of all time. Now if only Leigh Bardugo would write a series surrounding him, as well...

Genya: Her moment of victory was easily one of the best moments in this book. I was in public, and still I was jumping up and down and clapping, because DANG RIGHT. That disgusting king deserved everything he got (and more, actually). Her development in this book alone was absolutely stunning.
The Darkling: The scenes between him and Alina were brilliant. The dialogue gave me goosebumps with how perfect it was and how much emotion chemistry they had. They had chemistry in just the right sense, too. It wasn't romantic, but their powers played off one another so deeply, and their connection was so strong, that the power struggles instantly became fascinating and bone chilling.

Plot:
Oh my gosh. This plot. There were so many twists and turns. Leigh took you all around this world. We went into the Elbjen mountains, and back to Keramzin, and to Dva Stolba, and into the Sikurzoi mountains, and of course, into the Fold. There was so much movement, both physically and story-wise. These characters had to make the difficult decisions. They had to make the hard sacrifices. The plot and the characters intertwined in the way they needed to make a compelling and complex story.

World-Building:
Like I said, we saw so much of this world in this book. Leigh Bardugo has yet to even show us all of it. This culture is fascinating and this land is immense. She's crafted it all so well to make a patchwork nation that is beautiful and so intriguing.

This series is nearly perfect. It's too beautiful for my words, and it had become one of my favorite fantasy series of all time. Leigh Bardugo is a MASTER and I highly recommend that you read this. If you're not please reconsider your life and your choices.

Quotes:

"He did not see the moment the girl ceased to bear her weakness as a burden and began to wear it as a guise."

"I wanted to believe anything so that I wouldn't have to face the future alone. The problem with wanting is that it makes us weak."

"Suffering is cheap as clay and twice as common. What matters is what each man makes of it."

"Grief had its own life, took its own sustenance."

"Maybe love was superstition, a prayer we said to keep the truth of loneliness at bay. I  tilted my head back. The stars looked like they were close together, when really they were millions of miles apart. In the end, maybe love just meant longing for something impossibly bright and forever out of reach."

"I know, I know. I don't get it. I just know there's no way to live without pain - no matter how long or short your life is. People let you down. You get hurt and do damage in return."

"They had an ordinary life, full of ordinary things - if love can ever be called that."

Possible Spoiler-y Moments that Made Me Laugh:
Another aspect of this life that I love is the humor interspersed in all the serious plot stuff. It gave moments of levity amidst the war they were fighting. Here are some of my favorite moments separated by character.

Nikolai:
"I saw the prince when I was in Os Alta," said Ekaterina. "He's not bad looking."
"Not bad looking?" said another voice. "He's damnably handsome."
Luchenko scowled. "Since when-"
"Brave in battle, smart as a whip...An excellent dancer," said the voice. "Oh, and an even better shot."

"What are you two doing barefoot and half naked in the mud? asked a familiar voice. "Looking for truffles, I hope?"

"Saints, Alina. I hope you weren't looking to me to be the voice of reason. I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret."

"I can think of a few more interesting ways to spend one's time."
"Is that supposed to be innuendo?"
"What a filthy mind you have. I was referring to puzzles and the perusal of edifying texts."

"I owe you, Alina. Ravka owes you. This and more. Do good works or commission an opera house or just take it out and gaze at it longingly when you hink of the handsome prince you might have made your own. For the record, I favor the latter option, preferably paired with copious tears and the recitation of bad poetry."

DO YOU SEE WHY I CAN'T HELP BUT LOVE HIM?

Mal:
"Mal said in that same steady voice I recognized from the cave-in. "I don't reserve my friendship for perfect people. And, thank the Saints, neither does Alina."

"Maybe that brought us together, but it didn't make us who we are. It didn't make you the girl who could get me to laugh when I had nothing. It sure as hell didn't make me the idiot who took that for granted. Whatever there is between us, we forged it. It belongs to us."

I Am the Messenger

I Am the Messenger

By: Markus Zusak

Ed Kennedy is an underage cabdriver without much of a future. He's pathetic at playing cards, hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey, and utterly devoted to his coffee-drinking dog, the Doorman. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery. That's when the first ace arrives in the mail. That's when Ed becomes the messenger.
Chosen to care, he makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary) until only one question remains: Who's behind Ed's mission?

I doubted this book. I doubted it so hard. But I absolutely freaking should not have. I shouldn't have doubted Markus Zusak to pull off such a weird concept. I had to let this review sit in my mind for  few days, trying to gather exactly how this book affected me, how it wowed me.
 
This book is so raw. Raw in the best way, in the most beautiful way. I loved every minute of it, every strange and interesting and heartfelt minute. This book succeeded in format as much as it succeeded in prose. I loved how episodic this book felt, but it's all connected in beautiful ways, both apparent and clouded.
 
The prose is beautiful, as well. Though I didn't expect anything less from Markus Zusak. I mean, this man can WRITE. He took mundane things and made them beautiful, just like he took bizarre things and made them beautiful. And he made me care about these characters, obnoxious, screwed-up, and frustrating as they were. I still cared. I still cared a crapload. Not only did I care about the central characters, because I also loved and felt for the people that Ed was helping. They filled this book with humanity and heartbreak and happiness.
 
I don't know that I can put into words how this book touched me. It felt life-changing while I was reading it. It still feels life-changing. It reminded me of the beauty in life, and the horror, and the confusion. Everyone you see has their life, their own secret struggles, and sometimes we can help them. Sometimes we're helping ourselves in the process. Every time I think about everything that happened in this book, everything that it managed to put into words, my mind gets blown again and again by the beauty and the truth of this book.
 
I love that this was a glimpse at so many lives, and so many circumstances, and how all of these near strangers interacted and lived around one another, and how they lived hidden from one another.

I had one issue with this book, and it's more of a desire than an actual problem. I think the ending was a bit convoluted, and I'm still a bit confused about the whole thing. But I know that was the point of the mystery. It was strange and purposefully so.
 
Have I mentioned that the premise for this book is one of the coolest I've ever encountered (including fantasy books). It's so utterly unique, and it pulls it off. It pulls it off without any tropes or any clichés. It stood on its own, a beautiful story in its own right.

I don't know what else to say about this book. It's takes on large-scale themes in such an intimate sort of story. It's mysterious and intriguing, but at the same time it's grounded in real heart. I loved that, while this book is so, so, so different from The  Book Thief, I could tell it was written by the same person. The way he uses language, sometimes simplistic language, to get across such important emotions. It's absolutely stunning.

Quotes:

"Our footsteps run, and I don't want them to end. I want to run and laugh like this forever. I want to avoid any awkward moment when the realness of reality sticks its fork into our flesh, leaving us standing there, together. I want to stay here, in this moment, and never go to other places, where we don't know what to say or what to do."

"...but I guess it's true - big things are often just small things that are noticed."

"This isn't about words. It's about glowing lights and small things that are big."

"Sometimes people are beautiful. Not in looks. Not in what they say. Just in what they are."

"Already, I know that all of this will stay with me forever. It'll haunt me, but I also fear it will make me feel grateful. I say fear because at times I really don't want this to be a fond memory until it's over. I also fear that nothing really ends at the end. Things just keep going as long as memory can wield its ax, always finding a soft part in your mind to cut through and enter."

"If I'm ever going to be okay, I'll have to earn it."

"I'd rather chase the sun than wait for it."

"If I ever leave this place" - I swallow - "I'll make sure I'm better here first."

"It's impeccable how brutal the truth can be at times. You can only admire it."

"Usually, we walk around constantly believing ourselves. "I'm okay," we say. "I'm all right." But sometimes the truth arrives on you, and you can't get it off. That's when you realize that sometimes it isn't even an answer - it's a question. Even now, I wonder how much of my life is convinced."

"If a guy like you can stand up and do what you did, then maybe everyone can. Maybe everyone can live beyond what they're capable of."

TTT: Books on my Summer TBR

 My Summer TBR List

Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they have a different Top Ten list topic that a bunch of bloggers take and make their own list of those things.

These are the books that I'd love to read outside in the sun this summer. There's no time of the year when I don't want to read fantasy, it's a staple in my life. But, that's especially true for summer. Summer is an adventurous time, so I want to read adventurous books. I also love reading dense historical fiction in the summer time, because typically I'm bored when school is out. So I like dedicating my time to jumping into huge, interesting, dense books.

1. Landline
A new Rainbow Rowell? You KNOW I'm going to jump at it as soon as it comes out. Then I will read the heck out of it. Then I will be immensely satisfied, as always.



2. The Way of Kings
You had me at 1,000 page Epic Fantasy. Oh, and Brandon Sanderson. So yeah, I definitely need to start this series.


3. The Lies of Locke Lamora
No-good thieves? Witty banter? High fantasy? I'm so freaking there. I can't wait to read this one as it comes highly praised and sounds just up my alley.


4. The Name of the Wind
Another gigantic fantasy book, heck yes. I've heard this one is told in a really interesting way and that it's beautifully written. I'm so excited to see what it's all about.


6. The Secret History
Another book that is highly praised. I've read some quotes and they are all absolutely beautiful. I've heard this book is dense and stunning, with writing that you want to savor. I can't wait to jump in.

5. The Falconer
I'm not usually one for faerie books, but what I've heard about this one has me excited. I've heard that it's a fun adventure and an interesting setting. Also, apparently there's a cute boy? We'll see, but I'm excited.


7. Code Name Verity
I've been meaning to read this book for so long. It's so praised and I'm a big fan of historical fiction, so I'm sure I'll love it. And this summer I am determined to finally, finally, finally read it.


8. Cinder
Another highly lauded YA book that I know I'll love, but that I just haven't gotten to yet. I love sci-fi and I have always held a love for retellings.

9. Vicious
I have this. It's sitting on my shelf, begging me to read it. I love Victoria Schwab, and she really impressed me in The Archived. She's shown she can execute intriguing concepts and put a new face on YA paranormal-esque stories. And anti-heroes? I am ALL about that.

10. The Prisoner of Night and Fog
Another YA historical fiction book that's caught my interest. It looks like it'll be an interesting take on World War II and I've heard really great things about it.

11. The Swan Gondola

This is the book I know that least about, but it still looks amazing! All I know is that it takes place at the Oklahoma State Fair in the late 1800's, which is such an interesting premise and not one that I have ever seen before.

We Were Liars

We Were Liars

By: E. Lockhart

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

 

This book has been so polarizing in the book community. There are those who really didn't like this book and there are those who loved it. Knowing that, I lowered my expectations and expected to be disappointed, but I wasn't. I absolutely adored this book. I devoured it all in one day because I didn't want to put it down. The language is absorbing and beautiful.

 

The thing is, I can understand why people disliked this book and I don't begrudge them that, I just happened to be drawn to all the things that they found annoying. I loved the vagueness of the writing and I loved what it accomplished in the emotion of the reader, and in me particularly. I felt like I knew these kids, not because they were so well described, but because I have met kids like them. I have felt relationships like this, where you love someone and hate them at the same time. Where you feel alone, but also surrounded and loved. It's confusing and confounding, but I identified with those aspects of this book.

 

I think a lot of the controversy of this book stems from what you were expecting. If you were expecting a plot-heavy mystery, you were bound to be disappointed. I was not expecting that, I was expecting an ethereal and vague and emotional story, which is what I think this book happened to deliver.

 

Like I said earlier, it's not that I related to the characters, it's that I understand their essence. Even if I have never been them, I have known them. I understand their emotions, if not their situation. I have peers who are passionate and apathetic simultaneously, that are in love and heartbroken simultaneously, that are scared and happy simultaneously. So seeing these characters struggling throughout this book, it affected me so deeply.

 

And the writing. THE WRITING. So gloriously gritty and dark with a veneer of the beautiful and the misleading. I really loved the atmosphere of this story. That's this story's strong point, the complete immersion into this island community, into this family in all its deepness and all its rot. The words felt visceral and real, they felt urgent and carefree at the same time.

 

This book blew me away. It hasn't done that for everyone and it won't, but it did that for me. I was affected in the way that truly great literature affects me and I adored the day I spent reading this book, letting it permeate my own life.

 

This is a book I know I will reread at some point, and might even get more out of now that I know the ending. There are things not yet connected in my mind, things that have been slowly working themselves out in the week since I read this book.

 

Quotes:

 

"We looked at the sky. So many stars, it seemed like a celebration, a grand, illicit party the galaxy was holding after the humans had been put to bed."

 

“If you want to live where people are not afraid of mice, you must give up living in palaces.”  

 

Spoiler Quotes:

 

"She confused being Spartan with being charitable, and gave away her possessions without truly doing good with them. She confused being sick with being brave, and suffered agonies while imagining she merited praise for it. She confused wit with intelligence, and made people laugh rather than lightening their hearts or making them think."

 

"Tragedy is ugly and tangled, stupid and confusing.

That is what the children know.

And they know that the stories

about their family

are both true and untrue.

There are endless variations.

And people will continue to tell them."

The Fault in our Stars---Movie Review

The Fault in our Stars - - - Movie Review

This book, this story, has touched so many, has inspired and changed so many. The months leading up to this movie I was excited, but also sort of petrified. This movie, I knew, would be vitally important to so many people. YA book-to-movie-adaptations have been getting a lot of buzz recently, both good and bad and mediocre, and this is an area that is important to all of us. But we need some buzz, some really good buzz to keep us going in this movement, so that more and more books that we love can become beautiful movies. To show producers that The Hunger Games and Twilight weren't just flukes, and that this genre has a fanbase that is demanding content, and that we will support those who provide it.

This movie was gorgeous. Absolutely and mind-blowingly gorgeous. I have only used this word to describe a book-to-movie adaptation once (For Catching Fire), but I'm about to be using it again: This movie was perfect. I have no issues with it, only things by which I was completely and utterly astounded.

The casting was beyond perfect. Ansel and Shailene shone in this movie, and I adored their portrayals of these characters. They captured their essences, the faults as well as the strengths. Ansel captured the grandness that is Augustus Waters, but he also owned the weakness of Gus. And he made the transition between the two seem so natural, so heartbreaking. The scene in the gas station broke me in two, and was, in my opinion, the most hard-hitting scene in the movie. It struck a cord in me, the hatred and disappointment that Augustus had in his life, the weakness he felt. It came to a perfect arc, all due to Ansel's brilliant acting.
As well as the emotion, he played the goofiness just as well, which must have been so hard to do. But it felt natural. Of course Augustus would want to be brave, and of course physical weakness was the only option he had in the end. But it didn't feel like an "of course", it felt like a progression, like a deconstruction of all that Augustus presented himself to be, just like it needed to feel.

And Shailene perfectly captured Hazel. I loved how obviously her cynicism was, how vital they kept it to her character. I loved how they humanized her, how they made sure that she was primarily a girl, rather than primarily a girl with cancer. She possessed all emotions. She made them her own. Her anger, her sadness, her enthusiasm. It all felt genuine to her specific place in the story, to her specific moments.

Laura Dern did such a great job with Hazel's mom. I didn't feel like this was a woman acting like a mother. I felt like this was a mother, feeling the pain of her child and trying to live through it.

And can we talk about Nat Wolff. CAN WE TALK ABOUT NAT WOLFF. He did a phenomenal job with every single scene he was given. Isaac is one of my favorite characters from the book, and his character was allowed to exist so fully, even while remaining thoroughly and appropriately in the background.

This movie made tangible what felt so intangible. It gave vision to a printed story and it gave an expanded life to these characters. This movie was the moments between moments, beyond just the moments themselves. For this reason, it felt like life and it felt like love and it felt like heartbreak. Distilled emotion in a visual format. Rather than an unwelcome addition to this story, this movie became a natural extension of it. The book will always hold my heart with its words, but this is the same story and it is beautiful.

None of the wit was dropped. None of the emotion slipped through the cracks. None of the characters or their dynamics fell by the way side. Faithful to the extreme and ultimately extremely beautiful, this movie has taken up residence in my heart - mixing with the words of this story, creating something visual and printed, something tangible and intangible. Something more.