Bleed

I did say back to books.

Another treat I found this weekend was Bleed by Laurie Faria Stolarz.  I enjoyed Blue is for Nightmares but by the time I finished White is for Magic I was done a little frustrated with the series, and her writing.  Which I feel a little bad saying because lord, knows I couldn’t write a novel.  But Bleed?  Bleed was good.    And well written, and interesting, and surprising.  It had been hidden under a pile of dr cleaning, so I am glad I found it.  Plus it has a great cover, which doesn’t photo well for the ‘Net but I love.

Bleed is a series of interconnected short stories, which sometimes I love but often leaves me wanting more of the characters. And that was true of this but in a good way. I loved Nicole’s story and I’d have liked to see more of it, but it was great how it came full circle. I liked how you saw glimpses not just of the characters but of who they were in other stories. I was intrigued by Kelly, if a little disappointed in her choice in the end. Why is girls like Kelly can’t just be alone? People need to learn how to be single, teens, 20 somethings, even mid-life crisisers. It makes being a couple so much better – or at least that is my humble opinion, well, not so humble.

T his wans’t a book that leaves me ranting – good or bad, but I did enjoy it, it did evoke emotion, and it once again helped remind me that I love teen lit. Really and truly.

McSteamy!!!!!!!!!

happy with grey’s again thank you very much.

Ok back to books now.

Good Girls

I have been waiting for this book. Once weekly excursions to every book store to check. You’d think I could get the pub date right but whatever. Sooo worth the wait. I have been in a reading slump, working on this Out of the Shadows book for review, which had fascintating pieces of information in it* but sort of slowed me down. After struggling through another African American athlete integration book I decided to treat myself. I bought Good Girls by Laura Ruby, went home and devoured it. Finished it the same afternoon I bought it, with time stopped for the end of the Steelers/Cincy game.

So basically the story is that Audrey ( a “good girl”) has a “friends with benefit” thing going on with Luke which she decides to end. But not before she does something she probably shouldn’t (well, debatable I guess) and someone takes a picture and distributes it throughout school.

The voice is authentic. True.

That seems funny to me. I love my parents. I love Ash and Joelle. I love my cat. Luke is – was – a different story. Luke is like a creature from another planet. Can you really love a creature from another planet?

The thing is sometimes we do things, we may regret, that may embarrass us, that may have been right at the time, or wrong but we didn’t know until so much later. But usually if people find out it is rumor (bad enough) – it is not broadcast to the school. Or maybe it is. And no matter if it is or isn’t we don’t really have the words to explain. And explain how we feel about someone can become trite, or cliche, and be not-quite-true.

Of course there is the inevitable conversation regarding sluts and players – the double standard, that will never, ever go away. Or at least it seems like. Obviously no one blamed the boy, in fact it upped his cool factor. Not so for Audrey. That being said and this is a little spoilerish – this is a good guy. Of course it takes a while to figure that out, but if you are paying attention you know that – long before Audrey does.

I liked this story – it had surprises, and truth, and eye rolling don’t preach at me, and funny moments. It was like reading a conversation I once had with friends. Call it the true Sex and the City for teens, more so than Gossip Girls by the way because it is smarter about the sex and the consequences, more about the relationships.

I am reading again.

*Did you know that Jesse Owens and Ohio State University got on trouble because Jesse was paid for work he didn’t do?  See the more things change the more they stay the same.

Borders Temper Tantrum

So I am in Borders to pick up Good Girls by Laura Ruby (Yea!)  and while I am waiting for my sixth grader to select a book in the Intermediate fiction , grades 4-8, I come across King Dork.  King Dork DOES NOT belong in the intermediate fiction section where a) no self respecting teen will select a book from, and b) will potentially blow the mind of any 10 year old who tries to read it, and not necessariy in a good way.  This is a huge pet peeve.  I get that corporate headquarters has sent you this “children’s book” but please!  the children’s section???????????  Honestly.  So I moved it.  Next time I am going to be the crazy cutomer that gets blogged about and demand that they place in the rightful teen section.  Seriously.  Do it right people.

Grey’s Anatomy

OK lets get this out of the way – yes this is primarily about books, teen books in particular, and yes, this is hopefully for my school teens to read, and it is linked to on our school website but here is my excuse: I know a bunch of students who watch Grey’s Anatomy so this is relevant.

I’ve been trying to figure out what annoyed me about last night’s episode and here it is. I don’t get Meredith. Seriously. What is it about her that would make McVet give her a pass, and wait around. And make Derek come back. I get giving up on the marriage and Addison (although I like Addison) but coming back to Meredith – really??? Although at this point I’m not so dreamy about McDreamy.  That being said how wonderful is Sandra Oh – her facial expressions are so good at conveying so much.  And love the panties on the billboard – GO Addison.
OK rant over.

Missing

I haven’t been writing much, which isn’t to say I haven’t read. But to be perfectly honest my reading as been primarily sports gossip, and pop culture, online. I have read Goy Crazy, and Specials but neither really excited me enough to write about. I think that the Uglies trilogy dropped off, but I still love the concept, and I am glad I saw it through. Last Days comes out today, also by Westerfeld, so that is pretty exciting. For those of you don’t know the Uglies trilogy is set in the indeterminate future when people receive plastic surgery at a certain age. Of course there is way more to the surgery than just looks but if I told you then you’d miss out on reading Uglies, which is fab, and Pretties, also great, and Specials – which you have to read to finish up the series.

Currently I am reading Gods in Alabama, which I found through a blog I read but I can’t remember which one. I am really enjoying it, it has a great voice.

Now that school is underway I will try to be more blog diligent.