Books read in 2009, part two

[odette_river]

Possible spoiler alert for anything.

july ;

	102. Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen young adult | realistic fiction | 281 pages July 2 Pretty good. I'd have liked to see it from Scarlett's perspective, but then I'm into the melodrama.
	103. The Predator by K. A. Applegate juvenile | realistic fiction/science fiction July 3 I forgot how much I like Marco. Now I remember. Also, Visser One!!!
	104. The Capture by K. A. Applegate juvenile | realistic fiction/science fiction July 3 The part with Crayak at the end? Still freaks me out.
	105. Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer young adult | realistic fiction/fantasy | 391 pages July 6 Hahaha, Eoin Colfer. You went there. You so went there.
	106. Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler young adult | realistic fiction | 290 pages July 8 An almost ethereal story about love and loss and friendship. I didn't find all of it believable, but some of it was spot-on. A quick read.
	107. 1066 And All That: A Memorable History of England by W. C Sellar and R. J. Yeatman adult | non-fiction | 116 pages July 10 Hilarious. I only wish I knew more about the history of England, because then it would have been even more funny.
	108. Brother in the Land by Robert Swindells young adult | realistic fiction/future world fiction | 151 pages July 13 This seemed like it was geared toward the younger end of the YA spectrum, but it was so dark. I expected a somewhat uplifting ending. This was not it. (This does not mean I didn't like the book - go read it!)
	109. The Stranger by K. A. Applegate juvenile | realistic fiction/science fiction July 16 I am now completely convinced that the Ellimist sounds exactly like Yoda.
	110. The Alien by K. A. Applegate juvenile | realistic fiction/science fiction July 20 Not a lot happens in this book, but I still rather like it, probably because Ax is hilarious. Also, Alloran! I love, love, love what we get to see of him in the numbered books.
	111. Wicked Lovely: Desert Tales: Sanctuary by Melissa Marr young adult | realistic fiction/fantasy July 20 I'm not really one for graphic novels, I've decided. This was fine, but not great, and I couldn't always tell people apart. They all looked sort of the same.
	112. A Killing Frost by John Marsden young adult | realistic fiction | 275 pages July 21 Whoa. Somewhere between the first book and this one, things got really desperate. I mean, not that they weren't desperate in the first one, but. This is really shaping up to be like Animorphs, but geared toward an older audience and without the aliens. I'm really excited to read the rest, now.
	113. Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter young adult | realistic fiction | 236 pages July 22 I ship Rachel/Joe Solomon so hard. Seriously. I've realized that they are the reason I read the books.
	114. The Book of Mordred by Vivan Vane Velde young adult | historical fiction/fantasy | 342 pages July 23 I like Mordred in love. I like that idea. I liked the OC's. And I liked Nimue actually having a personality. Also, the whole Merlin/Nimue/Mordred thing was really interesting.
	115. Cathy's Ring by Sean Stewart and Jordan Weisman young adult | realistic fiction/science fiction/fantasy | 149 pages July 26 I liked this better than the last one, though I'm not sure why. Also, I got a whole lot of Torchwood vibes from the Victor/Cathy thing. It was very Jack/Ianto.
	116. The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams young adult | realistic fiction | 213 pages July 27 A really quick read about polygamy. Kyra's end was never really a question, but it was interesting to see how she got there, anyway. The steam of consciousness stuff was a bit too much for me at times, but I can forgive that, I think.
	119. The Andalite's Gift by K. A. Applegate juvenile | realistic fiction/science fiction July 28 The trash can scene. Priceless. Really.
	118. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seeth Grahm-Smith adult | historical fiction/horror/humor | 319 pages July 28 I actually liked this better than Pride and Prejudice. I know, I know. But the action scenes helped to make the duller parts of the book much more enjoyable.
	119. The Secret by K. A. Applegate juvenile | realistic fiction/science fiction July 30 The Animorphs, The Radio Drama: UNCENSORED people really don't like this one, but I don't see anything too bad about it. Yeah, the skunk thing is a little over-the-top, and the termite thing, but that's also just how Cassie acts. What I did notice is that it's a lot less darker than some of the other ones. I mean, look at how they win in the end.
	120. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness young adult | realistic fiction/future world fiction | 479 pages July 31 A lot happens really quickly, or at least it feels that way, because the characters barely get a chance to breathe. The parts where it waxed philosophical, particularly about temptation and the Fall were really interesting, and reminded me a lot of His Dark Materials, what with all this talk of innocence. Also, props to Patrick Ness for having a gay couple without any fuss or mention of it at all. I've only ever seen this before in Diane Duane's Young Wizards series, and there it's entirely debatable.

august ;

	121. Briar's Book by Tamora Pierce young adult | fantasy | 258 pages August 1 I love Rosethorn. And I love Crane/Rosethorn. And I also love Lark/Rosethorn. All that basically means that I love this book.
	122. Sisters of Misery by Megan Kelley Hall young adult | realistic fiction/fantasy | 308 pages August 3 Good enough that I finished it. Bad enough that I'm not ever going to read it again. Maddie felt a lot like Gemma from A Great and Terrible Beauty. I sort of hated her. Cordelia was basically a Mary Sue: pretty, smart, disliked by the "popular" people. And to make matters worse, when she disappears, her mother goes crazy and her grandmother spirals into dementia, also as a direct result of the disappearance. Talk about melodrama.
	123. Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs young adult | realistic fiction/fantasy | 264 pages August 6 Really, really predictable. But sort of nice, in a predictable, mindless way.
	124. Last Dance by Lurlene McDaniel young adult | realistic fiction | 141 pages August 7 The dying swan solo from Swan Lake. I laughed.
	125. Lockdown by Diane Tullson young adult | realistic fiction | 103 pages August 7 A pretty standard school shooting story, made a bit creepier by the fact that one of the characters has my name.
	126. World War Z by Max Brooks adult | realistic fiction/horror August 8 Really well thought-out. I liked that.
	127. The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson young adult | realistic fiction | 370 pages August 12 I know, I know. Again.
	128. The Android by K. A. Applegate juvenile | realistic fiction/science fiction I'd forgotten that the Chee society was so fragmented. I always saw them as one big entity, but they have their own debates and squabbles, too.
	129. Darkness Be My Friend by John Marsden young adult | realistic fiction | 269 pages August 16 All of the sudden, Ellie was talking about kissing a girl. I got sort of distracted by the fact that I now believe she's gay.
	130. Burning for Revenge by John Marsden young adult | realistic fiction | 263 pages August 22 Turns the norm on its head by having explosions in the beginning and he tense stuff at the end. Not that the stuff at the beginning wasn't tense, either. Also, there were feral children. I have a thing for feral children.

september ;

	131. The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks adult | nonfiction | 254 pages September 4 There are some pretty good survival tips in here. I'll keep them in mind for the zombie apocalypse. However, I don't think getting out of town and far from civilization is going to be a very feasible option for me.
	132. Drown by Junot Díaz adult | fiction | 208 pages September 16 This was another of those immigrant stories, this time told through a collection of short stories. I'm pretty sure the only reason I enjoyed it was because I connected to it personally, but I guess that's reason enough.
	133. Forever Princess by Meg Cabot young adult | realistic fiction | 383 pages September 16 Ah, happy endings. Also, this time, I really, really liked Boris.
	134. Hidden Voices by Pat Lowery Collins young adult | historical fiction | 340 pages September 25 All three girls seemed about the same to me. I kept getting them mixed up, until they were all in different places. Although after a while I started seeing all the lesbian undertones. I'm still not sure how I feel about that part. I think that, if it was going to be historically accurate, there would have been a lot more problems with that.
	135. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins young adult | future world fiction September 25 I finally got my hands on this, in audio book form. It wasn't as good as The Hunger Games, which I guess is forgivable, since it would be hard to follow that. Still, Katniss got unbelievably stupid at times. I knew the game-maker was part of the resistance as soon as he showed her the watch. Maybe I should actually be part of sneaky things and rebellions? Also, Cinna! I forgot to mention that he's my favorite. Ever.
	136. The Pretender by K. A. Applegate juvenile | realistic fiction/science fiction Tobias never gets a break, really. Poor guy. So much angst. I can't remember my birthday. And yet I still like him.

october ;

	137. Street Magic by Tamora Pierce young adult | fantasy October 9 I wanted to get Rosethorn more in character, assuming I decide to app her. This didn't help much with that, except that I love her relationship with Briar. And I love her. She's awesome.
	138. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson adult | realistic fiction | 219 pages October 9 I didn't like this. Everyone else in my creative writing class did, but I don't know. It seemed really silly that one death two generations back made everyone go crazy.
	139. The Night is for Hunting by John Marsden young adult | realistic fiction October 16 The feral kids were pretty cool psychologically. It's an interesting place for the series to explore.
	140. The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness young adult | realistic fiction/future world fiction | 519 pages October 19 The one that comes after The Knife of Never Letting Go. I enjoyed it nearly as much as its predecessor, which is pretty impressive. There was less about the Fall, but that wasn't a problem. Viola and Todd are separated for most of this one, but that meant that more characters could be explored, which was cool. I liked how blurry the lines got in this one.
	141. Ash by Malinda Lo young adult | fantasy | 264 pages October 20 A really good idea, and some of it was done well. Not all of it, though. I didn't feel much connected to any of the characters, except for the fairy. Nice to read once, but I won't be reading it a second time.
	142. After the Moment by Garret Freymann-Weyr young adult | realistic fiction | 328 pages October 23 Wow. I really, really liked this. I originally read it to find out about a long distance relationship that falls apart, but from the boy's perspective. I got that, but the long distance relationship was not really the kind I thought it would be, and was not the main focus of the story. Still, there was so much else that I liked, though I can't really put my finger on why. I guess the thing I liked the most is that teenage love is never treated in a condescending oh-this-won't-matter-in-ten-years sort of way. It acknowledges that it will matter, but not as much as you might think. I don't know, it just was told so well. Really, there's only one thing I'm confused about at the end: was Millie actually gay? Did that throw-away line about a crush actually mean something more? But, of course, that's not actually very important for the rest of the story, just something that I got hung up on.
	143. The Departure by K. A. Applegate juvenile | realistic fiction/science fiction October 25 Animorphs: The Radio Drama, UNCENSORED. I really like this one. I like Aftran a lot, and I like the idea of being able to turn someone by spending enough time with them. Although of course Aftran was well on her way before she met Cassie.
	144. The Uninvited by Tim Wynne-Jones young adult | realistic fiction | 353 pages October 30 A family drama book. I liked it well enough, but I wasn't too pleased with the continuity. Things, particularly the attraction of the brothers to their sister, were brought up and then dropped without much explanation. Oh, it's there; oh, wait, never mind. That was annoying. Also, the way the relationship with the teacher fixed itself seemed far too easy.

november ;

	145. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens adult | realistic fiction/historical fiction | 480 pages November 5 Not my favorite Dickens book, but definitely not my least favorite. I like Nancy a lot, and I don't even feel bad about that, like with Mme. Defarge. But now I find myself conflicted because she died, like Mme. Defarge. But anyway. Good stuff.
	146. Visser by K. A. Applegate juvenile | realistic fiction/science fiction | 193 pages Still so good. Seriously, every time I read this, it gets better. Edriss still lies even after all this time to protect the people she loves. And she's still evil. It's amazing.
	147. Bitter Fruit by Achmat Dangor adult | realistic fiction | 288 pages November 30 I was the most intrigued by the radical Islam parts of this, and that was not touched on at all in my creative writing class. Also, there was a whole frelling lot of incest. I at first liked it, since Morgan/Arthur has indoctrinated me. But then it started happening way too much for no apparent reason.

december ;

	148. The Sky Always Hears Me And The Hills Don't Mind by Kristin Cronn-Mills young adult | realistic fiction | 264 pages December 19 I liked that this was a straight girl who questioned her sexuality in a nondramatic way and then came to a conclusion about it. I didn't like the fortunes that were interspersed throughout. They seemed like a gimmick. Also, the various plot threads didn't really seem to connect to each other very well. It was like they were all separate stories that were happening to the same person at the same time, if that makes sense.
	149. Kith (The Good Neighbors #2) by Holly Black young adult | realistic fiction/fantasy | 128 pages December 23 I think maybe I'm just not used to the pacing of graphic novels. This seemed to go really fast, with a huge scramble at the end to come to some kind of end. Also, I couldn't tell the characters apart. They all looked the same. This actually interfered with my understanding of the plot, because sometimes I thought one character was doing something when it was actually a different character. It was even hard to tell the boys and girls apart.
	150. The Pale Assassin by Patricia Elliott young adult | historical fiction | 336 pages December 26 I didn't really like this. Maybe I'm not cut out for historical fiction anymore? I know I really used to like the genre, but lately it's been doing nothing for me. I couldn't get into the characters, especially the main character, and I thought there was too much of a focus on bringing in people like Robespierre, instead of on how big events effect little people, if you know what I mean.
	151. My Heartbeat by Garret Freymann-Weyr young adult | realistic fiction | 160 pages December 28 This was all right. The plot was good, but the narrator seemed far too juvenile for the things she was doing, and her voice annoyed me. There was too much summary and not enough of things actually happening.

part one
post for 2008
to read
goodreads account

Comments

[lilting-grace.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I finally read the entire Marsden series this year too. Now I need to somehow get my hands on the Ellie sequel books.

I should also finish the Garrett Freymann-Weyr book I'm in the middle of, since I've been "in the middle of it" forever. I'm not sure why, since it's fabulous, as I'm beginning to suspect all her books are.

[frenchroast.livejournal.com]

Yay, someone else who's read the Tomorrow series. They are very Animorphs-ish, which is (to me) a great and wonderful thing. You have excellent taste in zombie fiction as well. I think I must recommend Christopher Moore's The Stupidest Angel, if you haven't already read it--it's both a great Christmas and great zombie story.