Disliked

Beach Party by R.L. Stine

 in Book Reviews / Books by

Summary

Karen invites her friend Ann-Marie to stay at her dad’s apartment over-looking the beach. They plan to party all summer, enjoying the sun, sea, and sand. The fun starts for Karen when she meets two new guys. But which one should she choose, Jerry who is so handsome, or Vince, so deliciously dangerous?

-Amazon.com

Review

I personally don’t like R.L. Stine. A lot of younger readers enjoy it because it gives them a scare and a thrill. But for me, a teen, I find that these books border on horrible. They have no story line, no point to them, and don’t scare the reader. The Goosebump series is in the juvenile section of my library, but the other books by R.L. Stine (The Babysitter series, Point Horror series) are in the YA section. But these books are definitely for the younger end of YA, like the 12 year olds. If you pick this book up hoping for a scare, you should just put it down. This book is not worth your while. If teens want a really good thrill, try reading Stephen King. I read Misery and if you want scary, Stephen King is the thing for you. They are what I would call horror. These books are not. They don’t have anything scary happening. The book is also really easy as I read it in about 5 hours (not even).

Younger readers might find this book “scary” as they have not read a lot of things like this. But once you get to YA and you have read all of the other books out there, and have watched those scary movies, you don’t get scared at all and it is just a read. Yes it may be a good beach read because you don’t have to concentrate and it is quick.

There are people who like it but I am just not one of them. This is a good book for reluctant readers because it is easy and it would keep them interested.

But this is my opinion. Pick it up and give it a try if you want, but this is not a book for scares.

Tell me what you think.

Tall Story by Candy Gourlay

 in Book Reviews / Books by

This was the other book Parenthetical and I  read for the Nerds Heart YA.


Summary

“Working through the many meanings of “tall story,” first-time author Gourlay slam-dunks this tale of a towering boy from the Philippines and the pint-size, basketball-crazy half sister with whom he has recently been reunited. Told in the alternating voices of Bernardo, who suffers from gigantism, and Andi, who longs to play point guard on her school’s b-ball team, the novel effortlessly encompasses real-world dreams as well as magic realism. Bernardo was left behind when his mother, a nurse, immigrated to the UK and forged a new family. In San Andres, Bernardo is seen as a reincarnated folk-hero giant who protects the area from earthquakes, though he believes the blame for his freakish height falls on the local witches who cursed him. In contrast to Bernardo’s anxieties over coming to the UK, Andi’s struggles of readjustment to her changed family appear minor. Wonderfully, though, Gourlay uses the dual viewpoints to show that Andi’s concerns are no less important. And, it turns out, she finds that there is more than one thing worth wishing for. This will capture the hearts and minds of sports lovers—and just about everyone else as well.”

From Amazon.com

Review

This book did not make it to the next round of Nerds Heart YA, and here is my review with my reasons.

I personally did not enjoy this book. I felt that it did not go anywhere. It had a flow to it but to me it felt like someone was giving an account of a family visit. Parenthetical said that it was like an adult book as it had a slower pace. As so many YA books (which are new) are fast paced, I just could not seem to stay interested in the book. The characters seemed a little far-fetched. Bernardo was extremely tall, unrealistically tall for his age (16 years old). This book had a sense of magic because Bernardo is believed to save San Andres from earthquakes and the towns people do not want him to go to London because they are scared. His mom thinks Bernardo has a medical condition because he is so tall, but is it something else?

I thought that the story line was interesting with the children visiting (and moving) and how they had not seen each other for a long time and  how the mother was paranoid because she was so short and  did not want her son to be tall. That was quite humorous to me. It reminded me of my mother in many ways as I am taller than her (which is not hard) and she wants me to stop growing :). He was an 8 foot tall child – freakishly tall for his age. Well, freakishly tall in general.

I was also confused in the beginning of the book. I wasn’t clear who the characters were and thought both of the children were boys. Reading further I found out that Bernardo was a boy and Andi was a girl. Confusing.

This book was nominated for the CARNEGIE MEDAL. The Sunday Times voted it one of the 100 Best Summer Titles. The Times voted it the Most Recommended Children’s Book for Christmas. It is a YA book but the reviews are by adults. They read differently. I think that might be why they enjoyed it. Since I am YA, I like books that have something happening, like many teen readers. It was a little too slow for my taste and not enough happened to keep my interest.  I have never read a book like it. I like reading faster paced books and if there is nothing interesting in a book I am instantly turned off. I guess this is something I have to work on.

But even if I did not like it, it does not mean that you should not try it out. Please have a look at it as everyone has a different reading style. I am just picky. 🙂

Check out Parenthetical’s review of the book.

Also check out Candy Gourlay’s website.

Will Grayson Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

 in Book Reviews / Books by

20 pages. That was all that I read. This was because of what was in the book. You can read the review here. But since I did not read the book I do not know much about the story but I am going to tell you this from what I read. There is a lot of cursing in this book. You pretty much have every word in the cursing dictionary. Everything from hell to the -eff word. CommonSenseMedia.org rates if ok for 15 year olds but I would have to disagree. On their website I would advise younger readers not to look at the description of this book because all of the words are spelled out and no young readers should know about 3/4 of the words on the page. There is also a lot of sex talk.

I put this book down because it was vulgar. I did not want to read anymore so I just gave it up. If you would like to read it be my guest and tell me how you found it. But personally, I do not want my head filled with all of these disgusting images so if you are that type of person who likes keeping their head clean, stay away from the book.

Interesting-Book-Related-Thing Saturday

 in Bookcase by

Ok, I know I do not say a lot about bookcases but my personal opinion on this one is that it is hideous.
Just look at it. A modern design with a cut out of a Victorian style bookcase. The thing that really annoys me is that the legs are not touching the floor.
The bookcase is floating.  Who the heck would want something like this.