The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I must be the only person who didn't read this in school, but I finally did! I have to say, I think I may have enjoyed it more in a classroom-like setting. After finishing, I had to go on Sparknotes to really understand a couple of things.

So, The Great Gatsby is about Jay Gatsby, a mysteriously-rich neighbor of the narrator, Nick Carraway. Nick and Gatsby become somewhat close friends, and Nick soon learns that Gatsby is in love with an acquaintance of Nick's, Daisy Buchanan. Nick knows Daisy and her husband Tom (he also knows that Tom is cheating on Daisy). Gatsby and Daisy were in love years ago, and he's never given up hope on winning her back. Nick arranges a meeting between them, and from there the story really picks up...

I can't tell if I think Gatsby is a hopeless romantic, or a greedy weirdo. I'm leaning towards a mix of both. Gatsby works for years to build up an impressive wealth, and he's been pining away for years for the (inherently) wealthy Daisy. While it's hard to say whether he really loves her, or loves the status and wealth that she represents, his feelings appear to be strong and true and for that, I felt for him. I guess however that the story isn't so much about them, as much as it's about money, social status, and the difference between new money and old money back in the day.

I'm a bit torn on Fitzgerald's writing style - some lines were beautiful and you could be caught up in such a great scene. And then some lines were just confusing and I either had to go back and re-read something, or had to just kind of wait and see what happened (and failing that, I just finished the book and then went on Sparknotes). And maybe it's because I was expecting the story to be so much about the Gatsby-Daisy-Tom-Nick-Jordan love stories that I kind of missed all of the apparently important messages about status and money in this time period. That's why I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had been reading it in high school - I didn't really catch some of the meaning of the elements in the story until I read some analysis stuff Sparknotes.

Though I was unsure of how I felt about it throughout the whole book, the last half definitely picked up the pace a bit, and I actually cared what happened to the characters. And I can see myself reading this again in a couple years and appreciating it more the second time around.

3.5 stars

~Sarah

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books of 2010!

Yay! This week's Top Ten Tuesday, created by The Broke and The Bookish, is to pick the top ten books you've read over this year. So here is Sarah's Top Ten Books of 2010! (In no particular order...)

1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: I was lucky enough to read this entire series this year (which was nice, because I didn't have too long of a wait for the 3rd book), and it was great. I flew through it, and look forward to re-reading it sometime.

2. Graceling by Kristin Cashore: I love this book! This is actually probably my favorite YA book of the year, and I can't wait until Cashore writes some more!

3. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett: It's really hard to describe why I liked this almost 1000 page book so much. It's one of those books that kept me reading, hating to put it down, and I found myself thinking about the characters even when I wasn't reading.

4. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: This was the year that I finally read some of the Bronte's works, and I really loved Wuthering Heights. Go Heathcliff!

5. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte: This was really engrossing, and I read everywhere that it was shocking when it came out, because it portrays a woman who actually leaves her crappy husband. I feel bad that Anne gets so little recognition, cause this was fantastic.

6. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen: What a perfect magical treat. This was my first S.A.A. book, and she's now one of those authors that I'm waiting anxiously to release a new book!

7. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee: I can't believe I waited so long to read this. I never read it in high school, and I think I skipped class when they showed the movie. But I can easily see why it's such a classic, I got really emotionally invested in the story.

8. The Princess Bride by William Goldman: Inconceivable! LOL that's probably my favorite line. This was a really fun read, and I'm glad that the movie matches it almost exactly.

9. Persuasion by Jane Austen: Romance, longing, and witty social commentary. You can never go wrong with Austen.

10. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood: This is probably the most frightening dystopian book I've read. Both because of how awful life for women is in the story, and because it seems all too possible.

It seems almost cruel to pick only 10 books for this list out of the 126 I've read (so far) this year! There are a bunch more that could easily make this list. It's been a great reading year!

What are your best reads of 2010?

~Sarah

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Hope Santa Brings :)

My favorite day of the week, Top Ten Tuesday! This week is Books I Hope Santa Brings, which for me really equals Books I'll Buy if I Get Bookstore Gift Cards!

1. Fire by Krisitin Cashore: This was a really good companion-ish novel to Graceling, and I'm sure I'll want to re-read it sometime soon!

2. Comanche Magic by Catherine Anderson: This is the fourth sequel in a really great romance series, but it's out of print, and you can only get used copies for like over $20. For a mass market paperback! Hopefully the author will be able to re-release it soon (like the others in the series), or hopefully I'll jump from #80 on my paperbackswap wishlist up to #1. LOL. Seriously though, it'd be amazing if someone could find this book for relatively cheap. I really want to read it!

3. The Case for Mars by Robert Zubrin: Thanks to the show Firefly, the idea of terra-forming planets for humans to eventually live on is really intriguing. This book apparently is about how we could terra-form Mars. What a cool concept. And probably necessary, since either over-population, pollution, or global warming will eventually ruin Earth and humanity will need somewhere else to go.

4. Best Poems of the Bronte Sisters: It's surprisingly hard to find a collection of Bronte poems (by ALL the sisters).

5. The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen: The only one of her books that I don't own yet.

6. My Antonia by Willa Cather: A classic that I'm sure I'll want to read eventually.

7. The Awakening by Kate Chopin: Same reason as number 6.

8. My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares: This was a really great love story-ish book, and I really, really, really hope that Brashares writes a sequel soon!

9. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula le Guin: Or really, any le Guin book that I don't already have. She's one of my favorite sci-fi authors.

10. The Antelope's Strategy- Living in Rwanda After the Genocide by Jean Hatzfeld: He wrote a really interesting book called Machete Season, in which he spoke to some of those guilty in participating in the Rwanda Genocide, so I'm really curious to read this one too.

Merry Christmas and I hope you get all the books you wished for this year!!!

~Sarah

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

I decided to read this after I read Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, because this is by the same authors. And you probably remember how much I gushed about D&LBoD. Well, while this was just as intriguing, it didn't live up to the hype.

Nick and Norah are both punky-hip teenagers who meet one night when Nick turns to Norah in desperation to avoid his ex and says "Will you be my girlfriend for five minutes?" and from there they end of spending the entire night together.

I have to say that although I was curious to see what happened, and I was able to breeze through this, I'm not all that crazy about it. Nick and Norah both get props for being straight-edge punksters, but otherwise they're both potty-mouthed teens trying to get over their respective really crappy exes. There were a couple chuckle-out-loud kind of moments near the end, but overall it was particularly entrancing.

You might like this book more than me if you're a teen, you curse a lot, and you're into punk music (cause they focus pretty heavy on music and lyrics in this one). Otherwise, I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone. It was an eehhhhh read. I do wanna see the movie version though. Just cause.

3 stars

~Sarah

Night Road by Kristin Hannah (ARC edition!)

This book is actually not going to be released until March 29, 2011 but I was lucky enough to win an Advanced Reader Copy via First Reads on www.goodreads.com. I read almost the whole thing in one sitting tonight (and boy am I gonna regret that at work tomorrow...)

Jude is the typical over-caring mom to twins Zach and Mia. During freshman year of high school, Mia becomes best friends with Lexi, the new girl in town who has grown up mostly in foster homes and is just looking for a place to belong. Eventually Zach and Lexi fall in love, and the three form a close-knit group. One night senior year tragedy strikes, and it tears them all apart. This is the story of how to try to move on when you lose someone you love.

Kristin Hannah's books tend to make me sad. Mainly because her stories are focused on the bond of friendship, and it always makes me a little sad that I don't have a typical "best friend". I haven't since high school. Hannah's stories always make me kind of wish that I did, and this one wasn't an exception. Mia and Lexi were really likable girls (hell, they bonded over reading Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre!) And this is a serious tear-jerker - I spent the last 200 or so pages with tears just rolling down my face. I didn't love the ending. It ended the way I was hoping it would, but it seemed a little too easy. Another 50 pages or so would have been helpful.

If you're looking to be completely engrossed in a book, this one would be a good pick for you. I couldn't put it down. Be prepared for a bit of sob-fest though.

4 stars

~Sarah

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books in 2011

Well hello there. It's another Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the gals over at The Broke and The Bookish. This week is Books Most Anticipated in 2011.

1. The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss: This is the second in the Kingkiller Chronicles, and it comes out March 1st. I've been waiting for this for at least a year, because the first one was AMAZING.

2. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore: Actually, there's no release date yet for this but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll be in 2011. This will be the 3rd book in Cashore's loosely based Seven Kingdoms books. (I say loosely based because they're not necessarily chronological, but all kind of set in the same world.) I fell in love with her other two books, Graceling and Fire, so I can't wait for this one!

3. The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen: Comes out March 22. I read Allen for the first time in January of 2010 and proceeded to read all I could of hers. Her books are very magical and sweet and interesting.

4. Flip This Zombie by Jesse Petersen: To be released on January 3rd, so this might be the first 2011 book I get to purchase. It's the sequel to Married With Zombies, which was pretty funny.

5. Jennifer Crusie re-releases: Jennifer Crusie is one of my favorite romance authors, and in 2011 a bunch of her older books are going to be re-released, which will be all kinds of exciting.

6. Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn: Another of my fave romance authors, and this book should be coming out May 31st, according to Amazon.

7. Outlander (20th Anniversary Edition) by Diana Gabaldon: This is also according to Amazon and my goodness I hope it's true. They say that a special 20th anniversary edition of Outlander will be released on July 5. I may just faint with excitement.

8. Bumped by Megan McCafferty: I read about this book on Goodreads a while ago, and it sounds really interesting. It's a dystopian book in which only teens can give birth. Reminds me of The Handmaid's Tale or Children of Men. Comes out April 26th.

9. The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman: Comes out January 25. I like Alice Hoffman, and I'm even more excited about this because I know she's one of my friend's favorite authors, so maybe I'll be getting it for her for her birthday!

10. The Rivers Woman by Philippa Gregory: I like Philippa Gregory, and although I was hoping that the third book in her Cousins War series would be out in 2011, I was wrong. She does however state on her website that this book, The Rivers Woman, should be released in Autumn 2011 (no mention of it on Amazon, so not sure if this is true...) I'll be sure to keep an eye out for it!

SO that's my list! I think I'll get a calendar and write all these release dates down so I don't forget (cause yes, I'm a big nerd).

What books are you looking forward to in 2011?

~Sarah

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

OK, let me say that this was entertaining, and I never found it dull. If you're looking for something engaging and mildly intellectual, this might be a good pick for you. Now be forewarned that I am an atheist (or at the very least, I really don't like organized religion) and that assuredly biases my view on the book. Just as I'm sure a Christian reading it would be biased. I honestly don't know how you couldn't be biased when reading something like this, but anyways...

C.S. Lewis writes as Screwtape, an accomplished demon / devil who writes advice-filled letters to his nephew Wormwood, a new "tempter" who is try to damn a young man.

If you're a Christian or even just mildly religious, you might feel that this is an eye-opening account of how evil really works and how much you have to be alert for all the ways in which you might be tempted. Which I'm sure is EXACTLY what C.S. Lewis wants you to feel. For me, it's him (Lewis) blaming every little thing that men think, say, or do on temptation from demons. Have you ever seen the movie The Waterboy? You know his mama that says that everything is "the devil"? That's pretty much C.S. Lewis here.

He implies that well-educated skeptics are on their way to Hell. He implies aethists are on their way to hell. He implies that the devil is what makes men want to work for things like social justice. He implies that trying to be unselfish is the devil's work. He implies that it's the devil's fault that women are less likely to marry and have children. Seriously, if there's something a human does, the devil is probably to blame. He removes all human accountability for their actions, and lays all the blame on the devil's work- therefore trying to make you really paranoid that every little want, desire, or thought you have MIGHT be the devil at work and you should take caution.

Also, it's interesting that in Lewis's Hell, demons actually have records offices, demons-in-training, and intelligence-gathering offices. It was fun to picture Hell as an office-type setting. That might be the one thing that he got right.

3 stars

~Sarah

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Can you believe that this is the first time EVER that I've read this? I've seen the Disney Mickey Mouse version when I was younger, but never read the actually story. Also, it should probably be noted that I read this in A Christmas Carol and Other Holiday Tales published by Borders, but I didn't read the other holiday tales. Probably will someday, but just didn't feel like it this time around.

As you probably know, the story is about Ebenezer Scrooge (great name, by the way) who is a penny-pinching grouch. There are parts of grouchy Scrooge that I like. I guess I just don't mind grouchy people, cause I kind of am one. Anyways, he's SUPER grouchy and mean, and some ghostly holiday spirits show up to help him mend his ways. He sees into his past, present and future before realizing what a crotchety old man he's being, and that Christmas is actually a pretty great thing.

I liked Dickens' style in this - the writing was concise and very entertaining. And when Dickens starts to lay on the holiday sap, he lays it on thick, which is part of why this book is so great. There are parts that you just can't help but smile at, and it's a perfect cheery Christmas-y read.

The only thing I struggled with was trying to picture Scrooge and everything the way Dickens described it, and not as how it's depicted in the Mickey version. So if you haven't seen a movie adaptation OR read the book, read the book first so you can have your own images in your head!

4 stars

~Sarah

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn

I really needed this book. It's been a long while since I've read something so engrossing and delightful. It's a very sweet YA story (man, I've been on a YA kick lately, huh?) about two 16-year olds in Manhattan at Christmastime who meet and connect via a red notebook. I usually go out of my way to avoid the hip-indie, emo-yuppie sort of teenage characters, but this one really made it work. And while this has romance-element to it, it was very much about these two teenagers learning about themselves and growing more into the type of person they each wanted to be.

Lily is odd, but a very very sweet girl. She genuinely likes the world around her and the people in it, she is very happy and excitable, and she's funny. Her use of the made-up word "Lilyverse" cracked me up. Actually for a 16-year old she's unbelievably innocent and nice, but it quickly became not-so-unbelievable. She turned into a very real "person" to me and just may be one of my favorite characters of the year.

Dash is a little rude and off-putting in a funny and very wordy way. I (sadly) had to look up a whole bunch of the words he used. I thought I might not like him at first because he seemed too anti-social-just-to-be-cool, but he turned out to be a very likable guy. He was honest and thoughtful and enjoys solitude, which I totally get. And for a teenage kid, he wasn't obsessed with sex. He truly wanted to bond with a girl if he was going to date her.

They were both very dorky and funny and spontaneous, and the story of the little red notebook that brings them together is really awesome and I didn't want to put the book down. It was fresh and brilliant I'll definitely be re-reading this sometime in the not-too-distant future.

4 stars!

~Sarah

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Places to Read

It's another Top Ten Tuesday over at The Broke and The Bookish. This week is your favorite places to read :o)

1. The bathtub - This actually is my #1 favorite place to read. Not sure why exactly, but it's sooooo relaxing to get into a bubble bath with a good book. And I've never accidentally dropped a book, either!

2. At work - OK, I work 12-hour long shifts as what is basically a security guard, so you can imagine the crazy reading time available to me here.

3. On the couch - Curled up with a blanket, this is heavenly. Sometimes it's so comfy I fall asleep though!

4. On a porch swing - When I lived with my older sister, I loved grabbing a pillow and laying on the porch swing to read. It's so peaceful, especially with the sun shining.

5. In a parked car - Back when I used to have an office job, I would go out to my car at lunchtime and read there for an hour. It was usually sunny and warm, and I'd sit in the passenger seat with the windows open. Unfortunately I don't get to do this as often anymore, and reading while a car is moving makes me feel sick.

6. School - OK, I'm not in school anymore. But I really do miss reading in between classes and while waiting for my ride when I was in college. It's the perfect time to squeeze a couple chapters in.

7. At a cafe or restaurant - As long as I have a book with me, I have no problem eating alone! Every now and then I'll stop and eat somewhere before or after work, and I get to eat leisurely while reading. I probably look like such a sad loner, but it's fun for me.

8. At the table - Pretty much the same principle as #7, except at home! I especially like reading at the table if I'm eating soup and bread.

9. In the kitchen while cooking - If you're making something that requires a lot of waiting, this is another good place to get some reading done.

10. At a park or beach - I used to read in the grass at my favorite park all the time. And I really love to get a long beach chair and read in the sand. Unforunately it's been AGES since I got to do either!

Man, this makes me want to go and read right now!

~Sarah

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

This book could have been SO much better. I picked it up because it takes place more than a century after a zombie apocolypse. (Which, if you're familiar with zombie novels, is an unusual timeframe. ) I was curious to see how the surviving humans were dealing so many generations after the zombies first began, how society was managing, etc...

The "Unconsecrated" never died off - instead, living humans built fences around themselves to keep the zombies away, but they're always out there, right next to the fence if you get too close. Mary lives in one of these fenced-in villages, who believe that they are the only survivors left in the world. The Sisterhood is a strict religious group that rules the village and who try to keep the village safe. But Mary grows up believing fairy tales about other places where people are, about something called an ocean where there's nothing but water. She dreams of finding it one day.

After losing everything that's dear to her, Mary enters the Sisterhood and realizes that they know more than they let on. Then there's a breach in the fence and suddenly the village isn't safe anymore, and Mary gets her chance to see what's beyond the fences...

I have two main issues with the book:

1. TOO MUCH INNER MONOLOGUING. I got so sick of being inside Mary's head. It definitely made the reading go a bit more slowly. Especially when she's constantly having some sort of inner turmoil over what she thinks she really wants out of life.

2. It seems that this book missed a great chance to explore more the after-effects of the "infection" on the remaining society. I'm also annoyed that just when you learn that the Sisterhood knew more than they let on, the breach happens and you never get the chance to uncover the growing mystery there. A lot of time was spent on showing the darker side of the Sisterhood, but it didn't end up mattering and that was annoying.

Anyways, great premise. And I did enjoy the beginning of the novel - the setting and general atmosphere were perfect. But a disappointing plot and main character mean that I probably won't be looking for the companion novel, The Dead-Tossed Waves.

2.5 stars

~Sarah