Top Ten Tuesday: 5/24/11 - Top Ten Books I Have Lied About

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.  This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish.  We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new top ten list complete with one of our bloggers' answers.  Everyone is welcome to join.  All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating.  If you don't have a blog, just post your answers in the comments.
Let me start by saying that I haven't lied about very many books.  I usually admit if I haven't read a book (unless I'm getting graded on it) and I'm also not afraid to state my opinion on a book, though maybe if I have a negative opinion I might soften the blow a bit.  Anyway, here's a list of the few books I can actually remember lying about.

TOP TEN BOOKS I HAVE LIED ABOUT

1.  1984 by George Orwell - I've never finished this book.  I had to read it in high school and I got 3/4 of the way through it then lost my copy.  I think I left it on the table at a Bob Evans...I never finished it for the class, which wasn't a big deal because we only worked on this book for about a week.  I've since learned how it ends and while the ending sounds cool, I'm not sure I could ever get through that boring chunk in the middle (it's like a political pamphlet?).

2.  The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane - This is another book I was supposed to read for school and didn't finish.  I remember being horribly bored and then mad because my class didn't even get to this book.

3.  The Lord of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien - I lie about how much I liked these books.  I loved The Hobbit and I thought the movies were awesome, but I really didn't like the books at all.  However, I feel like I need to like these books because I like the genre so much.

4.  Whatever the Shitty Book I Had to Read My Freshman Year of College Was - This was the only book I've ever actually thrown in the garbage that wasn't damaged beyond all repair.  It was that bad.

5.  All Other Books by Jhumpa Lahiri Other Than The Namesake - I say that Jhumpa Lahiri is one of my favorite authors, but I've only read one book she's written.  I think that in order to call an author your "favorite" author you need to read more than one of their books.

That's really all I can think of right now...

Teaser Tuesday 5/24/11

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 "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
• Share the title & author so others can add the book to their TBR list

Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris

 Jackson Hereaux was without a doubt a clever business man, but he was proving to be a stupid politician.  Having Connie arrested was dumb.  It drew attention to the Weres, had the potential to expose them.  A people so secretive would not appreciate a leader who couldn't manage a problem with more finesse than that.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

#1 in The Hunger Games Series
Published in 2008 by Scholastic
5 Stars

Goodreads Review
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. 

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before--and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Review:  The Hunger Games is a fast paced science fiction adventure that is gruesome, thrilling, and completely consumed my life as I read it.  This books had a perfect balance of heart pumping action and romantic respites.  The Hunger Games is the first of a trilogy, and it does a wonderful job of introducing the characters and setting up the overlying conflict while still being a complete story within itself. 

I love the idea of people being forced to kill each other in a twisted game exerted by a government's control.  The Most Dangerous Game, The Running Man, Battle Royale, and now The Hunger Games present a captivating concept that is both horrifying and inspiring.  This concept allows us to examine how people would react when put in this situation; what conventions would fall to the wayside in favor of the animistic need for survival and what heroic and selfless acts would rise to the surface. 

I have a lot of love for the protagonist, Katniss.  She doesn't whine about all of the awful things that are happening to her, she doesn't spend her time pining over some boy, and she doesn't depend on others to take care of her.  She's tough as nails and will do what she has to do to survive.  She isn't perfect and she isn't evil either.  She has successes and makes mistakes, has moments of selflessness and self-centered greed, and posses astute shrewdness and youthful naivety.  All of which endear her to the reader and point toward a well rounded and thought out character. 

I really enjoyed the world of Panem.  In The Hunger Games we get a sense of how different the quality of life is in each district.  People are dying of starvation in District 12, where Katniss lives, and the people of the Capitol live in ridiculous excess.  There is already tension and resentment in this first book, and I think Collins does a wonderful job of subtly setting up the circumstances that drive the plots of the following books.  I also adore the attention to detail, from describing the thought put in behind Katniss's costumes, the interesting advances in technology, and the fact that orange juice can be a once in a life time treat.

Overall The Hunger Games is a great adventure that takes a harsh look at classism, government control, and the loss of humanity in extreme circumstances.  The Hunger Games is a gritty science fiction novel that will grab you by the heart and shake you to the core.

Booking Through Thursday 5/19/11



This is a weekly meme hosted by Booking Through Thursday in which every week a different question is posted that generally involved books and reading.

In contrast to last week’s question–What do you think of censoring books BECAUSE of their intended age? Say, books too “old” for your kids to read?

I think that it is largely up to the parents to be aware of what their children are doing/reading/watching/playing ect.  Parents should monitor everything that comes into the house and be aware of the content.  If there is any question the parents should read the book first and decide if they think it is appropriate, especially with elementary and middle school kids.  I also think that when their children hit high school they should give their kids more room to make their own decisions because their kids should be allowed to start judging the quality and content of materials on their own.

When it comes to libraries, there should be no banned books in public libraries.  I think that for an adult any and every book should be available.  However, with children I agree with restricted accounts.  When I was a kid I couldn't check out any movies and I think there might have been some books I couldn't check out, but I never ran into that.  Again I think that parents should approve the books before their kids check them out.  For school libraries I think that questionable books should be reviewed by a panel of teachers and parents to decide if these books are appropriate for the school library.  I also LOVE the idea of a restricted section (like in Harry Potter) that is for adults only and children have to get special permission to use. 

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

#1 in The Forest of Hands and Teeth Series
Published in 2009 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
2 Stars

Goodreads Review
In Mary's world there are simple truths. 

The Sisterhood always knows best. 
The Guardians will protect and serve. 
The Unconsecrated will never relent. 
And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. 

But, slowly, Mary's truths are failing her. She's learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future-between the one she loves and the one who loves her. 

And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

Review:  The Forest of Hand and Teeth gets one star for the description of the zombies (though not their explanation) and one star for the awesome title.  That's about it for the positive aspects of this book.

1. There needs to be an explanation for why the zombies exist, and the science has to make sense.  I am a stickler about there being science in science fiction and that science is based on fact.  If a virus causes the zombies I need to know how the virus is spread, where it originated, if it had an intended purpose or if it was just an accident, how it works in the body, ect.  I also need to know how the zombies specifically act in this story.  Are they fast or slow?  Are they thinking and planning zombies or mindless one?  Do they live until their bodies wear out or do they have to feed to survive?  I need to understand the cause of the zombies and how they act and why they act the way they do. 
2. There needs to be an explanation for the way society deals with the virus.  How do they adapt and what strategies have they developed to protect themselves from the zombies?  If there is a government still in place, why does it work, why do the citizens live the way they do, and what are the motivations of the governments decisions?
3. The heroes/heroines need to be smart.  They need to have an understanding of their enemy and survival needs to be their main focus.  They have to be imaginative, determined, and ready to fight.  That's the only way to survive a zombie apocalypse. 

The Forest of Hands and Teeth had none of these elements.  There was no explanation for the existence of zombies, just that they existed.  There seemed to be some knowledge hidden by the "government" of the village, but it was never revealed even though there were many opportunities for the main character to do some sleuthing.  There was almost no history about the zombie outbreak and how the village came to exist.  I got absolutely no understanding about how the zombies worked and how to best defeat them.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth was way too focused on the completely illogical romantic drama.  If the villagers believed that they were the last of humanity in the entire world, why would they force women into becoming nuns?  Shouldn't every viable womb be used to keep the population up?  I can understand forcing teens to marry in order for this to happen, but if a girl cannot find a match when she is 16 it made no sense for her to be forced into a life of celibacy.  Polygamy would have been a more logical system.  The particulars of Mary's relationship were also similarly mind boggling.  The teens involved inflicted a lot of unnecessary stress upon themselves.  They should have all just gotten together and talked about it.  A round table would have saved them all a LOT of problems.

I also really hated the attitude taken towards the zombies.  There seemed to be absolutely no protection and preparation beyond a few vaulted platforms and a chain link fence.  And where did all of the technology go?  This book read more like historical fiction than science fiction.  If it were me, people would be training every day in combat and survival skills, and they would all have the knowledge about zombies that was available. 
I'm surprised that these people lasted as long as they did because there was no preparation for a breach in their defenses.  They always seemed to be taken by surprise by a zombie attack, even though they had weeks to prepare.  The characters needed to get their priorities straight.

Overall I think this author had too many ideas and couldn't wrap them up.  None of my questions were answered or even hinted at having answers.  The Forest of Hands and Teeth focused too much on creating a complicated love square and didn't focus on the more pressing issue at hand, the fact that zombies were trying to eat some brains.  The zombies seemed like an afterthought added in to make a romance story more marketable. 

Top Ten Tuesday: 5/10/11 - Biggest Jerks in Literature

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.  This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish.  We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new top ten list complete with one of our bloggers' answers.  Everyone is welcome to join.  All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating.  If you don't have a blog, just post your answers in the comments.

*I'm working my way through their old topics, so you will probably see a bunch of Tuesday posts on not Tuesdays for the next few weeks.  I just love making lists!*

TOP TEN BIGGEST JERKS IN LITERATURE

1.  Lord Voldemort from The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

The big baddy from the Harry Potter series, Voldemort's goal in life is to RULE ALL THE THINGS, and he isn't afraid to do a little murdering and plundering in order to get it (ok a lot of murdering).  On top of that, he's collected a whole posse of jerks to go around and do his jerk bidding, which usually always is accompanied by more murdering and plundering. 

I know there's a hottie under there somewhere...



2.  Joffrey Baratheon from A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin

Joffrey is, in a word, a bitch.  He's the jerk who bullies kids who are weaker than him and beats puppies and kittens.  But as soon as he's faced with any consequences for his actions, he goes crying to his mother, who just happens to be the Queen.  This little shit gets away with so much, it's so unfair.  He has the mentality that because he will someday be king, he gets to do whatever he wants.  And the sad thing is that he's right and he knows it. 

3.  Edward Cullen from The Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer

I know there are a lot of Team Edwards out there right now protesting this, but Edward wasn't romantic or caring.  He was controlling, stalkerish, and WANTED TO EAT BELLA.  Am I the only one who cares about this fact?  Edward wraps Bella up in this completely controlling relationship until he's the only person in her life, then he leaves her.  How is that love?  Seriously, stop being so emo.

yep



4.  Mr. Wickham from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I am SO glad that Elizabeth figured out the truth!  She is way too clever to be with such a jerk.  Sure he may be a hottie, but that's no reason to go around trying to violate young girls for their money, especially when that young girl happens to be the sister of your childhood BFF.   Then on top of that there's no reason to try to steal said BFF's new love interest by telling garish lies!  He and idiotic Lydia deserve each other. 

5.  Iago from Othello by William Shakespeare

This guy is a master manipulator.  He's able to twist Othello's mind so subtly that before Othello knows it he has gone from being a man in love with a beautiful and trustworthy wife to a man so jealous he's ready to murder her.  And the reason Iago destroys these people lives?  He didn't get a promotion.  That's overreacting.

6.  Napolean from Animal Farm by George Orwell

Napolean leads the other animals of the farm in the uprising against humans for freedom, only to turn right around and put himself in tyrannical power.  He steals food, takes baby animals away from their mothers, banishes and executes animals that don't agree with him, and forces the other animals to do all of the work while he takes the credit. 

7.  Nathan Price from The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Nathan Price is an evangelical pastor that takes his family into the jungles of the Congo on a ministry that is barely supported.  There he tries to force his way of thinking upon his family and the villagers of Kilanga.  He treats the African people like idiots who are damning themselves to hell because they cannot accept Jesus as their savior, but he never bothers to learn anything about the African culture that could help spread his message in a more positive light.  He also rules over his family with a tight fist, physically and mentally abusing his four children and wife.  He cares more about a failing mission than the safety of his family, putting them in danger by refusing to let go of his pride and listening to the advice of others.

8.  Thenardier from Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

He is a scam artist that steals money from the guests staying at his inn, spends the money Fantine sends for Cosette (and abuses the little girl for her troubles), and loots dead bodies on the battle field.  He cares nothing for other people and their suffering, just acquiring money by any means necessary.  

9.  Edmund from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Edmund is such a tool in this book!  Not only does he lie about going into Narnia, making Lucy look like a prat, but he sells himself to the white witch for some candy!  He's a traitor, and he's the reason Aslan is killed.   I'm glad that he learns his lesson and becomes much more bad ass (like in Voyage of the Dawn Treader) but in this first book all I can say is wow, what a jerk!

10.  All of the dudes from 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis de Sade

When it's your name that the word sadism - getting sexual gratification from causing pain on others - is derived from, you know you've been an extra special jerk.  The four men in 120 Days of Sodom gather up a bunch of sex slaves and go sequester themselves in a mansion for a never ending orgy of debauchery that gets progressively worse.  They pretty much perform every single horrible, vile act that you can imagine.  And since the book was never completed, they did it all in 30 days.

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

#1 in The Iron Fey Series
Published in 2010 by Harper Teen
5 Stars

Goodreads Review
Meghan Chase has a secret destiny—one she could never have imagined…

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school…or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth—that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face…and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.


Review:  The Iron King is an adorable take on many classic fairy tales and also invents some interesting new ones!  This book is a wonderful mashup of old and new ideas that are mixed around and tossed in the oven to bake up a batch of awesomeness!

I really loved the use of existing mythology to create this entirely new world.  I LOVE the idea behind the iron fey.  Why they exist, how they live, what their world looks like, it's something I've never read before and it MADE SENSE.  I also really liked what Kagawa did with the traditional fairy characters.  Their personalities were vibrant and I felt like I was in their world.  Kagawa does a wonderful job painting the picture of the magical realm.  Her words are descriptive and fluid and her characters are charming.  The Iron King is the first book of a series, but what's great is this book is a complete story in itself but also still alludes to a greater overall story that will connect the series.

Other aspects that I really loved were the supporting characters.  I LOVED Grimalkin, he is SUCH a cat.  I also loved Meghan's two love interests.  I would have liked to see more of Puck and I'm hoping that he will make a great appearance in the following books.  Ash is a great character, but why I always fall for the bad boys?  He's got a heavy sense of duty to his realm, but you can tell that deep down he's not so bad as the rest of his family.  I really appreciated the subtleness of the love triangle.  Meghan didn't immediately fall in love with one boy or the other (or both for that matter).  Kagawa took the time to establish the characters as individuals first, so that when feelings did develop they were believable.

The only criticism I have of this book is the lead character Meghan.  She seemed very helpless for the entirety of the book.   She is very weak and needs other people to take care of her.  Meghan does have a couple clever moments, but most of the time she's frozen in fear.  The most frustrating part is that I knew she had so much power inside of her, and it seemed like she was just too scared to use it.  I'm hoping that in  the coming books for this series she will grow into her ability and heritage and be more of the fighting-kick-ass-warrior-fairy-woman I know she can be.

Overall The Iron King is an excellent first installment in a series that pays tribute to the traditional fairy stories while creating a completely new world that is just as unique and magical.