Book 47: Smile by Raina Telgemeier

When we went to the National Book Festival this year, my sister and I wandered into a tent where Telgemeier was speaking.  I knew that she did comics, but that was about it.  Her talk ended up being the highlight of the festival for us.  She was funny and affable, and I resolved to read her book as soon as I could. 

Smile is the story of Telgemeier’s dental trauma that occurs after she falls on her face in the sixth grade.  She endures five years of painful surgeries, implants, and braces to try and correct the damage done to her teeth.  Of course she also has the normal teenage awkwardness to reckon with on top of her embarrassment over her odd teeth. 

This was a fun read; I can see why it has hit a chord with a lot of young women.  I actually related to this story a lot because I had a very similar experience with my teeth when I was in third grade and had to spend almost as much time with dentists, orthodontists, and oral surgeons as Telgemeier did.  This is a great book for preteens, or anyone else really—it’s very cute and funny.

Book 46: The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan

I put off reading this book for a long time—pretty much until my cousin badgered me into it—because the reviews did not make it seem appealing at all.  It wasn’t that people were saying it was bad, quite the contrary actually.  But the constant focus in the reviews of the fact that these vampire shit put me off.  I thought that the book was going to be focused more on the disgusting aspects of the vampires instead of an actual plot.  I’m glad that my presumptions were wrong; this book was very interesting and I tore right through it.

When an airplane lands at JFK without any signs of life inside there is understandable confusion and panic.  After searching the plane, authorities only find four survivors among the rest of the mysteriously dead passengers and crew, along with a large coffin filled with dirt.  The dead soon begin to rise as a strain of parasites infects the bodies, forcing them to seek out fresh blood.  A holocaust survivor, Abraham Setrakian, has faced this threat before and been preparing himself for the day when a full-scale attack would occur.  Setrakian, along with the CDC’s Ephraim Goodweather and Nora Martinez, try to stop the spread of the parasites, which would quickly destroy the human race, but have to face danger not only from the parasites, but also from those that brought it to America. 

As I said, I enjoyed this book quite a bit.  It was creepy, intriguing, and fast paced.  The only part that I took issue with was the end because of a corny line of internal dialogue.  I also didn’t realize that it was a trilogy and was frustrated that I didn’t find out the extent of the conspiracy.  I guess I’ll just have to read the other books soon!

Book 45: The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

This is the third installment of the Heroes of Olympus series, which for some reason I assumed was the last.  When I got to the last hundred pages I realized that this couldn’t possibly be the last one because there was nowhere near enough time to wrap everything up.  And I’m really glad that I still have two more books to look forward to, these books are too much fun to end yet.

The story picks up right after the end of the last one—Percy, Frank, and Hazel are at the Roman camp awaiting the arrival of Jason, Annabeth, Piper, and Leo.  There are all aware that they are the group that is prophesized to fight Gaea in Greece and that to win they need to unite the Roman and Greek demigods.  Of course right away things do not go well, when Leo is possessed and starts firing his ship’s weapons on the Roman camp.  After a hasty getaway, the group travels to Rome to fight Gaea’s forces, while Annabeth is tasked with a mission from her mother that no other child of Athena had successfully completed. 

This installment was just as good as the others.  But it ends with a pretty significant cliffhanger and I have been frustrated with anticipation since I finished it.  Obviously I enjoyed the book, and if you have liked the previous books in the series, you probably will too.  

Book 44: Artemis Fowl: The Artic Incident by Eoin Colfer

I actually didn’t intend to read another of these so quickly, but I happened across it while looking for another book and figured it was a sign.  It’s probably for the best that I picked this up instead of the one that I was looking for; I needed something light and funny to read.

The second in the Artemis Fowl series picks up a year after the events of the first book.  Since his mother’s recovery, Artemis has been forced to attend school and stop running a criminal empire.  He is still searching for his father even though everyone else presumes him dead.  When he finally receives word that his father is alive in the form of a ransom video from the Russian mob, Artemis and Butler begin hatching a rescue plan.  Unfortunately, Artemis has been accused of interfering with the fairies again, and has been detained by the LEPrecons until he proves his innocence. 

This installment was just as much fun as the first one.  Artemis is still a bit of a shit, but he has lightened up in the past year, he might eventually develop a conscience.  The books action is fast-paced and funny, I’m really going to make an effort to get the others and finish the series.

Book 43: My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me edited by Kate Bernheimer

I got this one for Christmas last year, I expect because it combined my love of fairy tales with Neil Gaiman.  Anyways, the reviews that I saw for it were mixed to negative, so I put off reading it for a while.  In the end, I can understand why some people didn’t like this collection, but for the most part I enjoyed it.  It was just as fucked up as the old fairy tales.

Kate Bernheimer gathered updated fairy tales, or brand new ones from authors all around the world because of a love of these stories.  There was a serious fascination with Bluebeard in this book, which is a story I don’t care for at all, but I can see why so many would want to write about it.  Only one story really made me ill, and that one was an updated version of The Wild Swans.  Naturally I enjoyed the stories contributed by Aimee Bender and Neil Gaiman the most; they were very creative and not at all disgusting, which helped a lot.

While not every story was great, most were entertaining enough for me to enjoy the book overall.  I think that they represented fairy tales pretty well in that most were disturbing and used to warn or moralize.  I’m not sure if I would read it again, but I would recommend it to people like me who still enjoy fairy tales.

Book 42: The Secret Life of a Boarding School Brat by Amy Gordon

This was another one that my mom picked up in the freebie bin.  She was annoyed by the bratty looking girl on the cover but was desperate to read something, and ended up enjoying the story.

Set in mid 1960’s New England at the Florence T. Pocket boarding school, Lydia Rice, a new pupil, is miserable.  Her parents have recently divorced and her beloved grandmother passed away, leaving her without someone to confide in.  She doesn’t get along with the teachers or students, and is on the brink of being thrown out of school.  When she starts to talk with Howie, the night watchman and a self-proclaimed silly wizard, she begins to learn more about the school and its history and enjoy her time there. 

This is a really short read, definitely meant for preteens.  It was pretty good for what it is, but given the recent improvement in young adult fiction this story can seem a little lacking.  Overall though, I think that this is a fun little book that many out of place preteens would enjoy.