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Top Ten Controversial Characters

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Top Ten Tuesday is a Weekly Meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s theme is controversial characters. These are characters I loved, but everyone hated, or I hated, when everyone else loved. So I’ve split my list into my top five from each category.

Controversial Characters Part One: Top Five Characters I Couldn’t Get Into, but People Rave About

Wuthering HeightsHeathcliff/Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte – I remember reading this book in high school and wishing I could drop into the story and be like, Catherine, honey. Lose this guy, please! I just did not get the fascination with him. He seemed dangerous and violent, and I definitely thought she could do better. But a lot of people seem to think of him as one of the top romantic heroes ever. So maybe it’s just me?

Mal/The Grisha Series by Leigh Bardugo – I didn’t start the Grisha series until after falling head-over-heels in love with Six of Crows, also set in the Grisha world. I tried Shadow and Bone soon after, and to be honest, I just couldn’t get into it. I could not understand why Alina pined for Mal. Sure, he’s a childhood friend, but he just seemed, I don’t know. Too immature for her. I was pretty excited when the Darkling was introduced, but er… yeah. That’s not going where I’d hoped, either. Can’t win ’em all I guess!

Aspen/The Selection Series by Kiera Cass – Okay. This one is a tough one for me, too. I’m Team Maxon all the way. I don’t know what the holdup is. Aspen seems like a selfish jerk to me. (Caveat: I’ve only read the first two books so far.) He doesn’t seem to care that America could be severely punished if she’s caught with him. He really only thinks about his own feelings for her. I’m not a fan.

Mare/The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard – I REALLY wanted to like this book so much. It was okay. There were things about it I did enjoy. But I found it really difficult to connect with Mare. She complains a LOT about the way the upper class Silvers treat her lower class Reds, but at the beginning, who is she stealing from? That’s right! Her own people! Uhhhh…..???? I had a hard time respecting her convictions. Plus, dude. The way she treated her childhood bestie? (Sorry, I forget his name.) I was like come on, please let him be his own man already. Grrr.

Bella/Twilight by Stephanie Meyer – This one might not be quite fair. I liked Bella okay for the first few Twilight books. It really wasn’t until the last one in which she sort of stops having any weakness ever that I kind of wished I was reading a story about Jacob and this tribe instead. (And I was largely Team Edward prior to that.)

Controversial Characters Part Two: Top Five Disliked Characters I Loved

Noah Falls/Away We Go by Emil Ostrovski – As I’ve worked up my own review to this book, which I really enjoyed, I’ve read some other reviews that were far less favorable, many because they expected the book to be a dystopian adventure about finding a cure to the fatal Peter Pan Virus, when in fact, it’s more a personal story about the way a terminal diagnosis affects a group of teens largely cut off from the rest of the world. Whatever the case, I loved Noah and spent so many pages rooting for him to find his way.

Ed Kennedy/I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak – It seems like many people take issue with the ending of this book, which isn’t quite the same as the character, but I really love Ed. I love that he’s kind of this unlikely hero who’s sort of clumsy in love and life and really at a loss as to how to find his place until the mysterious cards show up in his life.

Shinobu/Seeker Series by Arwen Elys Dayton – This is another book that had some really strange twists and turns in it. Shinobu’s story isn’t without its own darkness, but it has probably the most hilarious suicide attempt I’ve ever read. That sounds weird. Yeah, it’s as weird as it sounds. But I laughed out loud. Not in a cruel way. Just… oh, nevermind. It was supposed to be funny, and that humor juxtaposed against the seriousness of his death wish was, for me, somehow endearing.

Clarice/Mistwood and Nightspell by Leah Cypess – You know those really snarky characters who turn out to move the story along in unexpected ways? Clarice is like that for me. I loved her in Mistwood and was delighted that she also appeared in Nightspell. She’s sneaky and conniving, but fiercely loyal, which definitely endeared me to her.

Nell Golden/We Are the Goldens by Dana Reinhardt – Again, looking at reviews, it seems like the end is the point people gripe about with this book. I actually loved that it ended the way it did. That moment was Nell’s triumph, her facing down the huge unspeakable thing she spends the entire story working up to. I think really understanding her character helps the ending make sense. Also, as a sister myself, I can identify with the worry for a sister and the grief over the changing level of closeness. Sister relationships aren’t like any other. I’d have just as a hard a time as Nell, I think, were my sister to go through something like hers did.

Who are your best loved or most hated characters from literature? Do other readers seem to agree or disagree with you?

Top Ten Diverse Reads

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Top Ten Tuesday is a Weekly Meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s theme is top ten books which are outside the normal scope of what we read. I am pretty territorial about my reading time, so I pretty much stick to young adult and middle grade fiction with a few nonfiction books thrown in for sanity sake. This made the topic was a little tough for me. One of the things I’ve realized over the last year or so is that sometimes I need to be purposeful about choosing books with narrators who are different than me. Whether that means different in terms of race, gender, identity, or experience. Here are ten books that I really enjoyed in which the narrator and I, though we share many other qualities, have some obvious differences.

Top Ten Diverse Reads

  1. Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson – This novel in poetry captured me immediately. I loved the lyrical feel of the lines and Lonnie gripped my heart right away. My full review here.
  2. Dream Things True by Marie Marquardt – I loved the way Marquardt made me see the life of an immigrant family from the inside. The story challenged some ideas I’d had and made me reevaluate them. Definitely the mark of a good book, in my opinion. My full review here.
  3. Because You’ll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas – Moritz, a blind boy with supernatural ability to hear his surroundings, pretty much had me at hello. I couldn’t help being drawn into his tragic story and hoping for him to find his way through it. My full review here.
  4. This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp – This one was a tough read for me. It’s about a school shooting and revolves through the point-of-view of several characters connected to the shooter. Nijkamp fills the pages with a large, diverse cast of characters and manages to make each seem real and authentic. This is a must-read for anyone looking for stories with that kind of diversity. Read my full review.
  5. On a Clear Day by Walter Dean Myers – This is another story with a diverse cast of characters. Myers is an author I’ve been really wanting to read more. I read several reviews claiming this isn’t his best work, but I enjoyed the story. My review.
  6. Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman – If you follow Children’s Literature at all, you don’t need me to tell you how amazing this book is. I was blown away by how cleverly the story is put together and how heartbreaking it is to watch it unfold. If you haven’t read it, seriously, grab a copy now. It’s incredible. Read my review.
  7. Sold by Patricia McCormick – This was another tough read. It’s about a young girl raised in an impoverished town in Nepal whose family sells her into prostitution. Though the horrors of her life are not much described in the story, it’s easy to imagine what it’s like for girls who truly do live this life.  My review here.
  8. Wonder by R. J. Palacio – If you’ve been around The Story Sanctuary long, you’ve probably heard me talk about how much I love this book. It was so good that when I finished, I immediately bought copies for other people. Every character leaped right into my heart, Auggie not least of all. So good. My review.
  9. Blue Gold by Elizabeth Stewart – This is a recent read. I loved the way Stewart humanized the plight of so many nameless refugees and factory workers overseas. I never felt preached at. Instead, it was like opening a window and looking into lives so different than my own. Read my review here.
  10. Li Jun and the Iron Road by Anne Tait – I suppose in more ways than one, this book was outside my usual go-to read. It’s a historical tale, which I’m not in any way opposed to, I’m just more often drawn to contemporary or fantasy stories. I liked that it gave me a window into history that I really didn’t know much about before picking up the book. It’s about the construction of the railroad in Canada. My husband and I visited Vancouver as part of our honeymoon trip, and I would love to go back to that area and learn more about it. This book only helped fuel that fire. My review.

Top Ten Books Featuring Music

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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.

Top Ten Books that Leave Your Heart Aching (In a Good Way)

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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!

Top Ten Authors I’ve Read Most

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Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week’s topic is about which authors I’ve read most. I’m breaking my top authors into two categories: books I read as a child and books I read as an adult/reviewer. Obviously authors with big series that I followed have a huge advantage here, but there were a few that surprised me.

Top Authors I Read as a Child

1. Ann M Martin.

Okay, you guessed it. I was a total baby-sitter’s-clubber. I must have read over thirty of those books in my tween years. Mary Anne was my favorite, but Stacey and Claudia were close seconds. I did some babysitting myself and I think I always wished I’d had friends to share the stories and experiences with.

That beloved series isn’t all I’ve read by Martin. More recently I enjoyed Rain Reign by Martin. You can check out my review here.

2. C. S . Lewis

Well, you knew that was coming. This one really belongs on both lists. I’ve read the Narnia series more than once. The first time as a child, then again while my family was in North Carolina avoiding a fierce hurricane in Florida, and again aloud to my daughter.

I think each time I read the series a different book is my favorite. My current fav is The Horse and His Boy. Beyond the Narnia series, I’ve loved Lewis’s Mere Christianity, A Grief Observed, The Screwtape Letters, and Till We Have Faces. I have not read his sci-fi series, though I’ve heard it’s great.

3. Laura Ingalls Wilder

My sister gets the credit for introducing me to this series. She had a box set that was maybe a Christmas gift? After she’d read the books and talked about how much she liked them, I had to read them, too.

Today, my daughter has her own box set of these books. Though she’s only read the first one, it’s really sweet seeing the series peeking out from her bookshelf. I hope she reads the whole series someday.

Fans of this series might enjoy the Birchbark House series by Louise Erdrich. I haven’t read them yet, but friends have recommended them. It’s the story of an Ojibwa girl, which makes a neat comparison to Wilder’s familiar frontier settler stories.

4. Robin McKinley

I discovered my first book by Robin McKinley in a used books stall at a flea market. Beauty, an amazing retelling of Beauty and the Beast captured me right away. It became one of the books my mom gave for Christmas gifts one year.

Since that first taste, I went on to read other great re-imagined fairy tales as well as her fantasy novels The Hero and the Crown  and The Blue Sword. You can read my review of The Hero and the Crown here.

5. James Herriot

I had forgotten all about these charming books until my mom recently gave me one I hadn’t seen before. After losing both our cats this year to old age and health problems, my mom (who is incredible and so very thoughtful) put together a little package that included James Herriot’s Cat Stories. I’m excited to read it.

My journey with Herriot’s books began with the audiobooks, which we listened to as a family on long car trips. The books are basically short stories about his adventures as a vet in the English countryside. Some are laugh-out-loud funny while others are really tender and sweet. Definitely good stuff for any animal lover.

Top YA Authors I’ve Read as an Adult (ahem) Reviewer

1. Anne Elisabeth Stengl

This is another name that probably comes as no surprise to my faithful blog followers! (Because I’ve reviewed  much of the series here.) I stumbled onto the first book in the Tales of Goldstone Wood series and have been eagerly awaiting each subsequent book since.

One of my favorite things about this series is that the books aren’t all following the same characters, and the story doesn’t continue chronologically through all the books. It’s more like a collection of stories from within the same awesome story world. I. Love. It. Which is my favorite? Probably this one.

2. Rick Riordan

This one I blame on my cousin. She devoured the Percy Jackson series, which I hadn’t gotten around to reading. She offered to lend me the books and then it was my turn to plow through them. Since then I’ve read the first three books in the Heroes of Olympus series (I liked what he did with bringing Roman mythology into things.)

I think my favorite thing about the series as a whole is that as you read, you learn who’s who in Greek mythology (and Roman mythology, if you read Heroes of Olympus) kind of without even meaning to. Is it something you have to know about in order to graduate or become a functioning adult? No, but I love that the story is so entertaining that you don’t even realize you’re learning stuff. I want more books like this.

I haven’t reviewed any of the books in the series (not sure how this happened) but they’re fairly clean. I don’t think there’s any profanity. There’s some mild violence from battle scenes involving monsters. There is one boy/boy unrequieted crush that’s briefly discussed, but I don’t think it really goes anywhere or is very consequential to the story.

3. J K Rowling

I feel like this is almost a cop-out answer. There are seven books in the Harry Potter series, and I’ve read them all. I didn’t read them until I was an adult. My ten year-old daughter hasn’t read them at this point. We agreed that she could start reading them and do one book per year (I can’t take credit for that idea. Laura L. Smith suggests this in a post on her web site) but she hasn’t started reading them yet.

I LOVE the audiobook versions read by Jim Dale. Like, I could listen to them over and over. So. Good.

Which is my favorite? Maybe the fourth one? I’m not sure.

4. Jill Williamson

I’ve read two series by Williamson – a fantasy series and a dystopian series – and enjoyed both for different reasons. The fantasy series (Blood of Kings series) was a great sort of classic fantasy story – kings and magic and dark powers and stuff like that. It’s a Christian series, so there’s a parallel religion through the story and some great spiritual themes. Great for tween or early teen readers.

The dystopian series (Safe Lands series) is a lot darker and more mature. Williamson stays true to Christian values and principles and incorporates them into her story, but characters wrestle with issues like drug addiction and the emotional consequences of an unexpected pregnancy.

5. Maggie Stiefvater

Okay, so I cheated because I’ve read five books by Stiefvater and five books by several other amazing authors (including Stephanie Morrill and Laura L. Smith.) I chose Stiefvater because I’m anxiously pining for the next book in her Raven Boys series. Though the spiritual content is totally not Christian-themed (there’s a lot of new age-y, psychic stuff happening, so it’s definitely not for everyone) the characters are so captivating. I really need to know what happens next.

Outside this series, I read the first book in the Mercy Falls series and did not care for it at all. There was a lot of repetitive phrasing, and I just really didn’t buy into the story.

However. The Scorpio Races. Wow. Amazing. Seriously, go read it now. It’s SO good. Here’s my review.

So those are my top ten. How about yours? Have you read books by these guys? Did it make you want to check out something new? Who are your top favorite authors?