Book 27: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Here is another YA book that has been floating around my periphery and I finally decided to read it.  I guess I also finally read it because the movie is coming out and I watched a segment on the legion of fans that this book had and I was curious.

Lets see...I liked the book, but I was hoping for a bit more, but I can see how this book is important to younger readers.  I have been listening to a podcast called What are you reading?  Where the host often asks about the book that turned your head as a young reader, and I see that this could be one of those books.

In a nutshell it is a book about Cancer kids who fall in love and die.  It feels like it shines a unflinching eye on the subject and speaks on a topic that most kids have little connection to. 

After reading this book, I was given the typical suggestions of what to read next.  And of course they were all YA novels and now ones on kids who die.  I have mixed feelings on this.  In the world that lives produces recommendation only off of current purchases or reads, I am afraid of being typed cast as a YA reader.  I don't have a problem reading YA if it is done well, and I have a daughter who is a reader and starting to pick up some of these books.  But I want to be able to read other types of books.  Ones that are written for adults and have some meat on them.  It seems like I get the Classics, which is fine, but it seems like the only digging down that occurs is that they are classics and nothing else or now I am getting YA book recommendation.  Can it combine the and see what else comes up?

I find this similar to Pandoras recommendation to me on music.  I like a certain 1 Hit wonder from the 80's, who had gone on and produced many wonderful albums and styles.  I would like a recommendation of songs from one of his later albums to see what else is out there and I all I get recommended is 80's New Wave music, which I like but is not like his jazzier, moodier later stuff so I am left frustrated and type cast.  I have always had an eclectic taste in music, as with most things in life.  Give a good sampling of a whole bunch of stuff.

Ah anyways. that is a tangent that is not really well thought out, just some frustrations.

Back to the book.  Yes it is a book I will be OK if my daughter reads, I would just like her to be a tad bit older as there is a bit of sex involved.

Short Stories 75- Outside the Cabinet Maker

75. Outside the Cabinet-makers:  I love this short little short story.  Just a quick read on creating magic for your children and yet not being able to fully participate in that creation.

Short Stories 76-92

A nice big list of Short Stories. 
Here they are...
The Rough Crossing
The Mystery of the Raymond Mortage
Reade, Substitute Right Half
A Debt of Honor
The Room With the Green Blinds
A Luckless Santa Claus
The Trail of the Duke
Pain and the Scientist
Shadow Laurels
The Ordeal
The Debutante
The Spire and the Gargoyle
Sentiment and the Use of Rouge
The Pierian Springs and the Last Straw
Our Own Movie Queen
A Penny Spent
The Original Follies Girl

As with all the Short stories, click on the link to get more info.

I will call out the following stories:
The Ordeal, The Debutante
The Spire and the Gargoyle, Senitment and the Use of Rouge
and The Pierian Springs and the Last Straw

Book 26: The Thoughtbook of F Scott Fitzgerald

I was able to read this as I was reading some of his apprentice fiction.  It was a good time to read it. I would also suggest it if someone was reading Basil stories.

Book 25: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Powell

I loved this book.  I don't think I have made it a secret that I am frustrated with what I am finding out in the book world lately.  I am sure there are many good books, I am just not stumbling upon them.  I am glad I was able to come across this one.

It is refreshing and honest and a great book that feels real when dealing with relationships in the 80's.  Heck, I am sure the relationship part still rings true today.  Which it is why I am going to give this to my daughter when she is a few years older. 

Loved, Loved, Loved this one

The trouble with rating media

You may have noticed that I don't really include ratings on book. I tend to shy away from the practice as I often ffind it hard to know how to rate things like movies, books and TV shows.  You know things that will be compiled and make recommendations for future suggestions.  I find it hard to know where the break points should be.  First I should say I am very stingy on giving out 5 stars, as I think that only perfection deserves 5 stars.  Gatsby and Breaking Bad fit this category, but perfection is hard to reach. 

From there you go to 4 stars.  This is where I tend to put things I really like and enjoyed and that are well done.  But even a 4 star rating can be hard for me to give out, because it has to be near perfection.

1 and 2 stars are a bit easier, actually, I wish there was a zero star for things I just hated.  But these are things I really don't like and it is easy for me to know when it just isn't for me.

And that leaves the 3 star ratings.  These are the hardest for me because there are 2 types of books, movies and TV shows that I partake in.  And a 3 star classic novel would be vastly different than a 3 star YA book.  Not to mention how do I reckon a bad story by Fitzgerald or Asten to a good fluff book.  When I rate Fitzgerald or Austen it is usually to their other work, but just because I liked it less than something else they have written dosen't mean it should resided in the realm of Divergent.  Divergent is a good YA novel.  I didn't hate it, so I wouldn't give it a 1 or 2, it is a 3 star book for me.  But when I place it next to A Farewell to Arms by Hemingway, it just seems wrong that they should even be rated the same.

I need  2 prong rating system. One for more serious works and one for fluff.  Does anyone else have this problem?  How do you deal with this?

Book 24: After Dachau- Daniel Quinn

Can I just start out by saying how much I enjoyed this book.  I picked it up for my Reader and knew it was an alternate history type story where Germany won WWII and that was all.

And wow- it is so much more than that.  There is a whole thing about reincarnation that sucked me in right at the beginning, and then I was hit by the twist.

I have been so frustrated with books that are being recommended for me.  It seems like the only books that are suggested are YA books, and ones that are poorly written.  And I really want something more hearty, and well how can I put this....well written.  This book satisfied that.

My one criticism of the book is, that after it is revealed that they are 2000 years in the future, the story hits a slump.  Well, I shouldn't even say slump, because I think I was pushing through my fatigue to keep reading and glanced over some important info. So in hindsight that is my fault, not the authors.

Ok I have one other criticism, and it really isn't about the book, but what the author wrote postscript.  He needed to make sure that the readers knew he was Christian and did not believe in the whole idea of reincarnation.  Its not that he doesn't believe in the premise of the book, I just found it odd that he needed to include this, in the book.  Yes, in interviews make it clear your views, but it seemed to take away something from the story, like some of the magic was tarnished.  I hate to say it, but because of his insistence to include that blurb, I am very leery to read any of his other books, as I am afraid they will come off preachy, especially when it is titled The Holy.

But with all that said- I really loved this book and highly recommend it.

Update:  Ok So I decided to do a bit of research on Daniel Quinn to see if his books would come off preachy and very Christian.  It looks like I may be wrong about my reaction to his postscript.  But you know what that happens.  I made a knee jerk reaction.  In fact from my cursory search into the man, I am finding that the opposite may be true. I am amending my statement of being leery on his other works.  I think I would like to add Ishmael to my list of books to read.

Update:  After sitting with book for about a month, I have to say how much it has effected me.  I keep thinking about it and really want other to read it so I can talk to them about it.