Reads things. Writes things. Fluent in sarcasm. Willful optimist. Cat companion, chocolate connoisseur, coffee drinker. There are some who call me Mom.
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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly Meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s theme is music in books. I think the actual prompt is geared more toward either listing songs that would make great books or identifying a theme song for a particular book. I’m horrible at that sort of thing, and also deep in the revision process of my own project, so all I could think of were songs for my own scenes.
Instead, I’ve put together a list of books in which characters are either in a band or in which the stories feature music as an important theme. For me, music has always been a huge part of my life, so I was surprised that, as I made this list, there weren’t more books that came to mind which feature music as part of the story.
Here are my picks:
Scar Boys by Len Vlahos – Harry finds music and his role in the band to be an outlet and identity, even if it only makes the inequality in his relationship with Johnny more obvious. Read my review.
Scar Girl by Len Vlahos – After the tragic accident that tore them apart, the band struggles to reunite. Told as a series of interviews with band members, each recalls the highs and lows that ultimately led to another loss for the group. Read my review.
If I Stay by Gayle Foreman – Mia’s life hangs in the balance after a car accident that leaves her in a coma. She has to decide whether she will return to her life, even if it means facing life alone.
Where She Went by Gayle Foreman – Adam, Mia’s boyfriend in If I Stay, finds his new stardom to be a pretty empty life and reflects back on the great love he shared with Mia.
Apparently I didn’t review either of these books, though I did read them. I’m pretty sure there’s some sexual content– Mia’s parents are pretty permissive as far as her relationship with Adam goes. I can’t remember whether or not there’s profanity. I’ll have to go back and review these.
I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert – I don’t think I can say it better than the description on Goodreads: “Punk rock is in Emily Black’s blood. Her mother, Louisa, hit the road to follow the incendiary music scene when Emily was four months old and never came back. Now Emily’s all grown up with a punk band of her own, determined to find the tune that will bring her mother home.” (I think I read this back before I started doing reviews here. I wish it were a cleaner read.)
Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert – I think I liked this one better than I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone, but it’s been so long I’m not sure. Both are really gritty tales with great characters. One has quite a bit of drug content (mostly drinking maybe? I can’t remember.)
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen – I loved that the music in this book became this bond between Annabel and Owen, and really, a path toward healing. I remember that I adored Owen Armstrong. Must keep him handy for the next “book boyfriends” list. He’d be on there for me. (I seriously thought I had reviewed this book. I can’t believe I didn’t! Must add to my review list.)
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell – (Forgive me…. I listed this book on my last TTT. Can’t help it!! It fits both categories.) While the music doesn’t play a ginormous role in this story, either, it’s definitely part of the connection between Eleanor and Park. The story does great justice to the way that music so often becomes a voice or an anthem, putting things into words that we have a hard time speaking on our own. Read my review.
Sold Out by Melody Carlson – A girl unused to fame suddenly finds herself right in the middle of it. As Chloe and her band mates have to navigate the struggles of stardom, they learn that only by putting it all in God’s hands can they succeed.
You Were Here by Cori McCarthy – Five teens connected by a fatal accident sort out their unresolved grief by revisiting places frequented by the boy they knew in hopes of finding messages he left behind. I haven’t reviewed this book yet, because I only finished reading it recently, but I really liked it a lot. Unfortunately, it does have some explicit language, alcohol content and sexual situations. Look for the review soon for more information.
As a member of the privileged, genetically enhanced Priors, Davis lives a sheltered life in which she pursues dance and enjoys parties with her friends. As the day of the Olympiads draws ever nearer, the pressure rises for Davis to succeed in competition, but to do that, she’ll have to be perfect.
Cole has only known about Priors from the outside. As an Imp, or Imperfect citizen, he’s second-class, barred from opportunities that could mean a world of difference to him and his struggling family. Cole makes his living as a fighter, working for an up-and-coming politician. When the man asks for one last favor before financing Cole’s biggest fight yet, Cole can’t refuse. After all, what’s the harm in bringing down a Prior? Then he meets Davis, and his whole perception of her people changes. If he follows through with his job, it will destroy the girl he may be falling in love with. If he fails, he will be destroyed.
After reading the sequel, Torn, I really wanted to read this book. As I read Torn, I kept thinking, man, there’s so much history to this story! I really wanted to read the story referenced in all these little backstory hints. Then I discovered there IS a first book. So, now I’ve read it.
I wish I’d read The Feuds closer to the time I read Torn. It’s been long enough that I’ve forgotten some of the things I liked or disliked about the second book, and I know there were things I was hoping were more deeply explored in the first book in the series. One of those things was Davis’s relationship with her dad. He’s a much more present character in The Feuds, and the relationship between them does drive a few of the story elements, so that was satisfying. It made the second book make more sense in terms of what was said vs just hinted at.
I still wanted more information about the Olympiads and the Feuds. They were happening, but I think I wanted to feel like this was a huge tradition really grafted into a culture, and it really just felt like an event. Which was okay.
In terms of the story, I think I liked Cole better in this book but Davis better in the second book. Over all, I think I liked the second book better. I’m not sure if that’s simply because I read it first?
Readers who liked the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld might like this series. The writing is very different, but some of the themes explored in terms of what makes a person beautiful or valuable are similar.
Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency.
Sexual Content Cole and Davis have a powerful, immediate connection. They share passionate kisses. Davis is still a virgin when the story begins, as if she’s waiting for someone special. It’s implied that she and Cole have sex on a rooftop in what could be their last moments together.
Spiritual Content Davis comments that she wishes she could believe in God sometimes because of the hope that faith offers. Her world has proven that God does not exist.
Violence Cole provides for his family by fighting in an arena. He’s brutal and gifted. The fights are briefly described, one through a terrified Davis’s eyes. One fighter is killed in the arena.
Drug Content
Davis and her friends have fancy parties where alcohol and drugs are consumed. When one of her friends seems to be in some kind of medical distress, Davis assumes she’s had some kind of drug or too much alcohol.
Three fifteen year-old girls: Fiona, the daughter of an executive at a technology company in Vancouver who has just misplaced her phone, Sylvia, who bears the scars of an attack in her village in Congo and now lives in a refugee camp in Tanzania, and Laiping, a girl from a rural town working in a factory in Shenzhen, China so she can send money home to her family. They lead vastly different lives, but they all share one common connection: the mineral Coltan, or “blue gold” used to make electronics and cell phones.
After sending her boyfriend a topless picture of herself, Fiona loses her cell phone. Though her dad works for a company that makes electronics, he insists she get a job and pay for a new phone for herself. In Nyarugusu, Sylvie cares for her younger siblings and her mama, who won’t get up from her sleeping mat some days and insists that Sylvie’s father will join them soon. Sylvie’s brother, wooed by a local warlord, is slipping away from the family. The only way Sylvie can save them is through sponsorship to go to Canada. Laiping wants to please her supervisors at her new factory job and be a good daughter, sending money home for her father’s life-saving heart surgery. But when the company withholds her pay and punishes her for another’s defective work, Laiping begins to wonder whether she’ll ever be able to make a life for herself as a factory worker.
Told from the point-of-view of all three girls, Blue Gold relates three separate stories connected by the world’s desire for the mineral coltan. A nurse at Sylvie’s refugee camp sets up an online campaign to request aid for her, and Fiona and Laiping see the pictures of Sylvie posted online. They don’t know much more about the girl with the machete scar on her face, though. The politics surrounding the use of coltan are present in the novel, and it’s clearly a book with a message. Each girl’s story is compelling, however, and the passages certainly raise empathy for the real people enduring the conditions related in the tale, such as factories and refugee camps.
I really didn’t know much about coltan before reading this book. Through this story and the references included in the back, I’ve done a little more research and begun to look at which products and companies seem to be interested in or succeeding at supporting human rights and ethical production. One suggestion from a section at the back of the book suggests downloading an app called buycott, which can be used to scan the bar codes of items and provide information about whether it was produced in ways that cause harm to the environment or humanity. I’m eager to check it out.
One element that I found interesting was the way the use of cell phones and technology was portrayed throughout the story. A refugee camp worker uses a cell phone to take pictures and videos of Sylvie and her family in order to gather financial support and sponsorship to bring her to Canada. A photo of Laiping taken to test the cell phone camera makes its way across the globe to Fiona’s hands, connecting them, if only for a moment. For Sylvie, a viral photograph has the power to save; for Fiona, in the case of her nude picture, it can destroy. And certainly, where war and slavery rule the harvesting of coltan, technology and our need for the latest greatest gadgets can destroy lives. Technology connects us all, Stewart seems to be saying, for good or ill.
I liked that Stewart didn’t present the topic as a simple black-and-white issue. I really like that she includes a list of other sites and encourages readers to research products and companies for themselves. In reading reviews posted by others on sites like Goodreads, it seems clear that this book has elevated our awareness of problems surrounding coltan mining and factory conditions in China. I have to applaud her for those efforts, and I enjoyed reading this novel about them.
Language Content
None.
Sexual Content Sylvie briefly remembers being raped by soldiers before fleeing her home. There are a few details given, and it’s definitely the kind of scene that could be a trigger for rape or sexual abuse victims. Sylvie thinks about what it would be like to be married to a man she does not love, and compares it to what the soldiers did to her, saying she will withdraw inside herself, that the man can have her body, but never her.
Fiona sends her boyfriend a topless picture of herself which ends up being distributed online. She’s super embarrassed, and refuses to let her parents handle it, insisting she’ll make things right on her own. Her school principal warns her that distributing the picture is child pornography, and anyone (including Fiona) caught posting it or sending it out can be arrested. When Fiona finds out who first posted the picture, she refuses to out them. While I understood her reasons, I felt like it was a bad decision, and I found myself wishing her parents had insisted on being involved in the situation.
Spiritual Content When one of Sylvie’s allies dies in a fight against a warlord, she prays that his spirit will not be trapped in Nyarugusu.
Violence Sylvie and her mother were raped by soldiers before they fled from their home in DRC. Sylvie briefly remembers the event. For readers who are also victims, it could definitely be a trigger. A powerful warlord threatens Sylvie and her family. Soldiers exchange fire with refugees in one scene. In China, Laiping witnesses police brutalizing workers who’ve gathered for a rally to discuss rights and injustices at local factories. She is knocked to the ground and beaten.
Drug Content
Sylvie fears drunk men in the refugee camp who make lewd comments to her and may try to take advantage of her.
Fiona and her boyfriend go to a party where she gets very drunk. So drunk she’s ill and has to go home. Still drunk, she sends a topless picture of herself to her boyfriend. While she comes to deeply regret sending that picture, neither she nor her friends evaluate the role that drinking alcohol played in her willingness to send the photo to begin with.
Top Ten Tuesday is a Meme hosted by The Broke & the Bookish. Here’s my post for this Top Ten Tuesday:
Five Stories With Swoon-Worthy Romance (Gimme Heartache!)
It’s almost Valentine’s Day, and next to a romantic date, my favorite way to celebrate is with a book featuring a romance that leaves me breathless on those last pages. Here are my top five O2 snatching reads:
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell- That last pages leaves us with just three words. If you’ve read the book, you know exactly what I mean. *sigh* My review.
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo- I’m pretty sure I tweeted about this. Gah. Kaz and Inej FOREVER!!! They must get together. I never pre-order a book seven months before it releases– unless it’s by Harper Lee OR the sequel to Six of Crows. My review.
Not if I See You First by Eric Lindstrom- This was one of those books that I could have immediately read over again when I reached the last page. The romance had so many hurdles to overcome. So much angst and drama. So great. My review.
Hawk’s Flight by Carol Chase – Yep. You were wondering when I’d bring that one up again, weren’t you? It has been a long time favorite, despite the fact that it’s out of print. This was a book that I’d read almost every year. Faith, love, politics, star-crossed lovers, a good guy who has to do the hard things, a philosophy debate. Man, I love this book.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor – I can’t help it. I feel like I was rooting for Karou and Akiva from the quote before the first chapter begins. So good. To me this story makes a great parallel to life in that there are these two groups at war over their differences — literally, the difference between them as creatures. Yet two people found the courage to see past those differences and cultivate love and respect anyway. Okay, I’m kind of talking you out of reading the story, but you should definitely check it out.
Five Stories that Love Being Single (Non-Love Heartache)
It’s easy to get overloaded on the super sweet lovey-dovey stuff. If that’s you, here are five stories where romance is not the be all, end all:
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein- A WWII story about a female pilot and a woman working behind enemy lines in France. Both strong, admirable women and one wild ride of a story. My review.
Sensible Shoes: A Story About the Spiritual Journey by Sharon Garlough Brown- this tale follows four women as they journey through grief, loss, and heartache. I want to attend their study sessions. Wowza. Really deep, really brave stuff.
The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway – a really fun sci-fi featuring mimes, scary goo, special forces, ninjas, and best friends. Wow, that doesn’t even begin to do it justice. It’s a super-fun read.
Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman – If you’re a big fan of YA, you’ve probably already at least heard about this book, if you haven’t read it four times. Shusterman won the National Book Award for his brilliant story about a boy facing mental illness. I loved this book, and wholeheartedly agree with its status as an award-winner. My review.
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon – A boy looking for a favorite author stumbles onto a dark mystery. I’m grossly under-educated about Spanish history, but I loved this book set in 1945 Barcelona. Made me want to get out there and learn more history and also read more Zafon!
Now that Clay has adjusted to his new home at Earth Ranch, a school for magical *ahem* unusually gifted students, he just needs his magical ability to finally show itself. As fishy things begin happening on the island, Clay finds himself in the middle of a new adventure. He meets allies he couldn’t have anticipated, including the Jell-O-parfait-loving boy from a cruise ship. But they’ll have to act fast if they’re going to protect the island and its secrets from intruders.
I’d heard about Bosh’s Secret Series from some big-time fans, but this book was my first time reading anything by this author myself. I liked the playfulness and upbeat feel of the story. Even when things were dire, Bosch keeps it light with jokes and silliness. Though there’s some brief speculation about whether a girl has a crush on Clay, the story mainly revolves around the development of friendships, especially between Clay and Brett. Though it’s the second in the series, I almost couldn’t tell from the way it was written—it could have been a standalone novel. The story is light and uncomplicated, which might make it a great pick for reluctant readers. The first ten chapters of the series opener, Bad Magic, are available for free here.
Language Content
A few crude comments about bodily functions.
Romance/Sexual Content The kids briefly discuss a situation they believe involves two girls crushing on the same boy. Nothing further comes of it.
Spiritual Content Each child attends the private school on the island because he or she has a magical gift. One girl can steal things without being detected. One boy can start fires anytime he wants.
The children discover a mythical creature which also possesses magical power.
Violence In the heat of an argument, a boy is thrown from a cruise ship. A rock slide injures a boy.
Drug Content
None.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
How is it February already?! I started the year with lots of glorious plans, many of which are still sitting on a to-do list somewhere, waiting to be realized. For instance, I have some blog-related goals:
Create a 2016 To Read List. In the past, my reading lists have been really simple, just a bulleted list which I add a link to once I’ve read and posted my review of the book. I’d really like to do something a bit fancier that has thumbnails of the book covers, links to sites where you can buy the book, etc.
Add a fourth weekly post. Not a fourth review, mind you. Two-to-three reviews per week is about all I can keep up with, honestly. I’d love to read all the time, but alas… the whole day-job thing keeps getting in the way. Not to mention that whole sleeping phenomenon that my body wants to spend all kinds of time on. Anyway, I’d like to add a weekly list post. Whether it’s great books I’ve read lately, upcoming reviews, favorite quotes. Things like that.
Books I Meant to Read in 2015
Catch up on the books I meant to read last year. I transitioned to 2016 with about a dozen books left on my To Read list from 2015, and I really want to catch up on those. I’ve read a few already, as you can see. I’m also really trying to work in some of the books I own but haven’t read yet. Not sure what this means in terms of accepting new reviews. Still figuring out the logistics.
Comment on other blogs more. I used to be better about this. Partly, reading other review blogs is awesome because inevitably I find books I haven’t heard about, and partly it’s overwhelming because I find too many books I haven’t heard about. But it’s still a good practice, and I do enjoy it.
Review more Christian/Clean Middle Grade and Young Adult Books. My original goal with this blog was twofold: 1. To review Christian and clean fiction books to raise awareness about them. And 2. To review popular novels so that parents and readers can find out what kind of content exists in various teen books. I try not to judge, but to provide information so parents can judge what’s appropriate for their kids. So I feel like I’ve done better at the second goal than the first one, and I’d like to bring more balance into the scope of what I read and review.
So there you have my list of blogging goals for this year.
Our Handsome Kitty
In Other February News
(read: this is where I talk about my cat)
The cat we adopted last summer is really acclimating to our home. He likes to lounge on me every night while I’m reading on my tablet. The only problem? He likes to turn the pages while I’m reading! It’s adorably frustrating, because he likes to turn them when he’s ready. Not when I’m ready. So we’re working on that.
This is a picture of him. I haven’t managed to get a picture of him in the act of “reading” with me mainly because I only have two hands, but I’ll post one if I catch him. He’s been a great addition to our family over all. We hope to get another cat sometime soon. He’ll have a kitty friend!
Coming Soon
Reviews Coming February 2016
Over the next few weeks, you’ll see some new reviews and other excitement. One of the things I’m super excited about is a blog tour for Katherine Marsh’s The Door by the Staircase, which is a middle grade novel with some references to Russian folklore. I’m a huge fan of re-imagined fairy tales, so I can’t wait to share more about this book later this month. Other reviews coming soon include:
Bad Luck by Pseudonymous Bosch. A light, funny middle grade read.
Curio by Evangeline Denmark. A girl discovers a secret world in her grandfather’s repair shop.
You Were Here by Cori McCarthy. A contemporary story about a girl still dealing with the unexpected death of her brother. Also– one of the narrators doesn’t talk, so his scenes are told through graphic novel panels. I *love* this!
The Feuds by Avery Hastings. You might remember me raving about this book last year when I read the sequel. Boxing, ballet, and genetically engineered human perfection. All the things a good dystopian novel needs, right?
Blue Gold by Elizabeth Stewart. I’m pretty sure I heard about this on Twitter, but I’m not sure. Follows the story of three girls and their connection to a rare mineral used to make smart phones. Love the message of social responsibility.
Your Turn!
So what’s on your list of goals for this year? What are you most excited about reading? If there’s a book you really want to see reviewed, leave me a comment! I’ll see what I can do about getting a copy.
