February Read - Shatter Me

Shatter Me - Tahereh Mafi

Synopsis (as taken from Goodreads):  

Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war– and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

D’s Rating:  ❤❤❤❤  (out of five hearts)

S’s Rating: ❤❤❤ 3/4  (out of five hearts)


D’s Thoughts:
I chose Shatter Me for two reasons that absolutely never affect my reading:

1. It was the one book on the shelves of my local Wal-Mart that didn't want to make me vomit or bash my own head.
2. I really liked the cover art. And it's not at all my style.

For whatever reason, I could never put the book down. I spent many moments confused, which only fed my desire to read more. The writing style? Gorgeous, with so much imagery. I fell in love with it.

I'm very much a hit-or-miss person with dystopian novels. I loved Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and Anderson's Feed, but I haven't enjoyed many others until Shatter Me. Additionally, I was surprised to find myself connecting to Juliette and her inability to be touched, though I'm pretty sure my touch isn't lethal. There were some moments, in her lamenting about her loneliness, that I caught myself thinking, this is exactly how it feels to be lonely, she hit it spot-on. Miss Tahereh Mafi, if a word of it came from your own experiences, my heart goes out to you.

While the book did not change me forever, I give it a solid four hearts. I will be sure to read the sequel! 

Standout Quotes:
I wonder about raindrops. I wonder about how they're always falling down, tripping over their own feet, breaking their legs and forgetting their parachutes as they tumble...It's like someone is emptying their pockets over the earth and doesn't seem to care where the contents fall, doesn't seem to care that the raindrops burst when they hit the ground...that people curse the days the drops dare to tap on their doors.
I am a raindrop.

My lips will stay stitched shut with the secrets of this morning forever but my heart is so full of confidence and wonder and peace and possibility that it's about to burst and I wonder if it will rip [my] dress.

"We are fed lies because believing them makes us weak, vulnerable, malleable. We depend on others for our food, health, sustenance. This cripples us. Creates cowards of our people. Slaves of our children. It's time for us to fight back."


Album to listen to while reading this book: (before you judge me, this is generally not my taste in music, but I do have an appreciation for it) The Wall by Pink Floyd


S’s Thoughts:
I'll be honest.  I was perilously close to giving this book a solid four stars.  I'll also be double honest and say that I'm not sure WHY I couldn't give it a full four stars (five stars are rare from me so just hang that up right there) but I just couldn't.  Shatter Me wasn't a bad book--I enjoyed it.  But I also spent the first 70-80 pages totally confused out my skull.  And then when I wasn't confused and was understanding what was going on? Things changed.  And then I was confused again.  Maybe I'm into backstory and knowing what the frig is going on way too much.  Maybe.  But I had no clue why the world was in such disarray, why there were all of a sudden people with powers running around.

I finished the book as I started it.  Confused.

That being said, I liked Mafi's writing style: short, punchy but full of amazing imagery.  One too many times I felt myself thinking about Francesca Lia Block's writing style and how close the two were  (Damn.  I haven't read a FLB book in ages).  Both writers love including natural elements in their descriptions and what you get from that is some really beautiful language.

Standout Quotes:

"Truth is a jealous, vicious mistress that never ever sleeps, is what I don't tell him.  I'll never be okay."

"I can shoot a hundred numbers through the chest and watch them bleed decimal points in the palm of my hand.  I can rip the numbers off a clock and watch the hour hand tick tick tick its final tock just before I fall asleep.  I can suffocate sounds just by holding my breath.  I've been murdering minutes for hours and no one seems to mind."

"I am too poor to afford the luxury of hysteria right now."

 Album to listen to while reading this book: "Happiness... Is Not A Fish That You Can Catch" by Our Lady Peace. Brilliant dystopian sounding album.

 
March’s book is S’s choice and is "Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend" by Matthew Dicks.

See you soon! S & D

D's January Review...in February. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children!

Synopsis (as taken from Goodreads):
A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And a strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children who once lived here - one of whom was his own grandfather - were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a desolate island for good reason. And somehow - impossible though it seems - they may still be alive.

Rating: ❤❤❤❤❤ out of 5 hearts

They say that the best things in life are worth waiting for. As most of you have realized, I get a majority of my books from the city library, though I do my best to support great authors by buying their books when possible. As was expected, Miss Peregrine's had a long hold list. How long, you ask? When I joined the list in early October, I was number 42, which more than triples the last "biggest wait list" I've been on: for TFioS back in July. I didn't get the book until January! Worth it? Undoubtedly so!

It's hard to know where to start, and it's hard to talk about the most wonderful things about this book without a bunch of spoilers, but I'll do my best. For starters, as opposed to the main character in our last sister read, Jacob Portman was relatable, despite being rather dissimilar to me. Most of us know the feeling of not being believed--though perhaps not to the extent of Jacob--and we can all certainly relate to the point in childhood where you simply cease believing in the "fairy tales" you once did. 

I absolutely adored the settings of this book: first Florida (2 of my 5 favorite books are set there, it must mean something) and then on an island in Wales. Both, but particularly Cairnholm Island were vividly described by the author, to the point that you could feel as if you were there. Ransom Riggs, among other things, is among the ranks of the few author who can make the weather of their novels interesting without making it a key part of the plot (the first example I can think of that displays this is the children's novel Bridge to Terebithia).

Miss Peregrine's was so unlike any other book I've ever read, and I never quite knew what would happen next. The hero's journey takes such a unique meaning in this book, and the empathy I felt while reading was off the charts. And that, friends, is why Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children not only gets 5 out of 5 hearts, but why it also joins my list of favorite books ever.

Standout Quotes: 
“When someone won't let you in, eventually you stop knocking."

“To have endured all the horrors he did, to have seen the worst of humanity and have your life made unrecognizable by it, to come out of all that the honorable and brave and good person I knew him to be— that was magical.”

“I didn’t know what to call it, what was happening between us, but I liked it. It felt silly and fragile and good.” 

Album to listen to: I don't know why, but Sigh No More by Mumford and Sons. Children's playtime songs also come to mind,

Now to begin devouring this month's Sister Read! Expect a review soon, as S and I are both ecstatic about reading this book!

~D

S's January 2013 Book Wrap Up

So here's my January BWU.  It's pretty extensive... I've been a busy girl this month!


Books Read:  8

• On the Island – Tracey Garvis-Graves
• The Fault in Our Stars – John Green
• Before I Fall – Lauren Oliver (Sister Read!)
• The Haunting Season – Michelle Muto (Review here)
• All My Friends Are Superheroes – Andrew Kaufman
• The Tiny Wife – Andrew Kaufman
• Wrecked – Charlotte Roche
• Where the Devil Can’t Go – Anya Lipska

 Books Abandoned:  0

 Books in Progress:  1

• My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece - Annabel Pitcher

Just a friendly reminder... Lucy Robinson's second book, "A Passionate Love Affair With a Total Stranger" is out now!  Check out my advance review but, really?  Why would you?  Just go read the book!

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