The DUFF by Kody Keplinger (Book and Movie Review)

Title: The Duff
Author: Kody Keplinger
Page Count: 277
Rating: B+
Keywords: High School, Beauty, Relationships, Senior Year, Acceptance
Genre: YA
Younger Readers: DO NOT BASE READABILITY ON MOVIE, this book does have an abundance of teen sex including scenes with oral, domestic violence and alcoholism also present, may not be appropriate for preteens

Movie Synopsis from IMDb:

A high school senior instigates a social pecking order revolution after finding out that she has been labeled the DUFF - Designated Ugly Fat Friend - by her prettier, more popular counterparts.

Book Synopsis from Goodreads:

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper may not be the prettiest girl in her high school, but she has a loyal group of friends, a biting wit, and a spot-on BS detector. She's also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. But things aren't so great at home and Bianca, desperate for a distraction, ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him. Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn't such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she's falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

Review of Movie:

   I wanted to start off by talking about the movie. It was amazing! I have absolutely no clue why this movie was not more popular when it came out. It was funny, cute, and even ended with a moral (don't judge people because bad things can happen to anyone and you don't always know their circumstances). Anyone that has ever felt like a misfit can relate to Bianca and her struggles to function in the high school setting as well as accept herself for who she really is. I think that this is a really important lesson for everyone. I was lucky to have the kind of parents that encouraged this my entire life but I also have known people that did not learn this until much later, or not at all. It is okay to be who you are. Don't pretend to be someone you're not to fit into what others expect. You'll just make yourself miserable. I'm a clumsy nerd who gets really excited about bookstores and is an introvert who can be selectively outgoing if necessary. Some people think that's weird and others think it's really cool. Guess who I hang out with? Find the people that you can be yourself around and keep them. Don't waste your time on people who won't accept the real you.
   The love story was adorable. Girl realizes that her super cute guitar playing crush is not as perfect as she thought he was (hasn't everyone been there at some point?) and notices that she has developed serious feelings for her best guy friend. Pretty much the ideal cute situation for a hopeless romantic like me.
    I watched this with my mother and a friend. All agreed that it was fantastic and hilarious! It was not exactly like a an 80s movie but it certainly had a similar feeling to a classic John Hughes film for me. Like Breakfast Club. It wasn't exactly storyline but a feeling it gave. Check it out!

Review of Book:

     I just wanted to start by saying that I did enjoy this book in the end and I would recommend it overall. If you do choose to read it just know that it is not like the movie. There is the same overall message in the end and the same cast of characters (in name only) but the storyline is very different as well as the actions of the characters.
    This was certainly not what I was expecting after watching the cute movie. Before page 100 Bianca and Wesley have had a one night stand. Not just making out. Nope. It was a sex scene. And then she continues to use him as a "distraction" in this way for much of the rest of the book. There is even a much more detailed oral sex scene than I was expecting. Especially since this was written by a girl in high school and is classified as a YA novel. This is why I would not recommend it for the younger readers of YA.
   The book is much more serious and explicit than the movie was but I did not hate it. Certainly I did not enjoy the first quarter of the book because I was longing for the cuteness of the movie and was getting a story about a girl with a seriously messed up life and a casual hookup relationship. Bianca is looser than most YA main characters and for some this will be refreshing. For others it could be a total turn off for the whole story.
    Family violence is addressed briefly in this novel and it is not sugarcoated. I enjoyed this aspect because it is such an important topic to be exposed to. Often times people avoid family violence, also known as domestic violence, because it is an uncomfortable topic but addressing it in the world of fiction is certainly a good starting point to addressing it and learning about the complexities of such a topic.
    I recommend it because in the end it was a good book with a good moral. Everyone is unique and it is best not to judge because you never know what someone is going through. That is great to teach young people. However, I just want the reader to be aware that the content is not as light as the movie and may be inappropriate for much younger readers. It also depends on the reader's morals and comfort level with certain content. Some people are okay with crude language and casual sex. Some people are not. It really depends on the individual. If these things don't bother you and you're interested, check it out! It is short and will fly by.

July Currently Reading

     Summer time is a time of boredom for many students. No classes, far from friends, routine has been upended. And the lack of schedule leads to horrible boredom. Boredom leads to some interesting consequences for most people. Some people binge on Netflix. Some eat. Some take up crafts. I tried all of these but my boredom was not alleviated. Video games are usually a cure but as entertaining as The Evil Within was, there are only so many hours you can stare at the screen. So I was led to randomly choosing to begin the workout routine P90X and am now actively reading FIVE books. Not one, not two, not three. FIVE. My boredom has led to abs that hurt even when I laugh and random facts floating around my head.
    Here is my reading list for July! Enjoy the random list and my thoughts so far :)

Title: Cleopatra
Author: Stacy Schiff
Page Count: 302
Genre: Biography

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer brings to life the most intriguing woman in the history of the world: Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt.

Her palace shimmered with onyx, garnet, and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator. Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world.

She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first when both were teenagers. She poisoned the second. Ultimately she dispensed with an ambitious sister as well; incest and assassination were family specialties. Cleopatra appears to have had sex with only two men. They happen, however, to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, among the most prominent Romans of the day. Both were married to other women. Cleopatra had a child with Caesar and--after his murder--three more with his protégé. Already she was the wealthiest ruler in the Mediterranean; the relationship with Antony confirmed her status as the most influential woman of the age. The two would together attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled their ends. Cleopatra has lodged herself in our imaginations ever since.

Famous long before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons. Shakespeare and Shaw put words in her mouth. Michelangelo, Tiepolo, and Elizabeth Taylor put a face to her name. Along the way, Cleopatra's supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff here boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order. Rich in detail, epic in scope, Schiff's is a luminous, deeply original reconstruction of a dazzling life.  

Thoughts so far:

I love the casual tone of this biography. Sometimes biographies can come across as condescending and talk down to the reader. This feels more like a conversation with a helpful teacher. It is an easy read that I think most people could get into. The information is laid out in an easy to absorb way and there have not been any lulls so far. I am only on page 30 so far and I am having so much fun and learning so much about the legendary queen. Did you know she is actually of Greek descent? I would absolutely recommend this one.

Title: The Bone Clocks
Author: David Mitchell
Page Count: 624
Genre: Fiction

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Following a scalding row with her mother, fifteen-year-old Holly Sykes slams the door on her old life. But Holly is no typical teenage runaway: a sensitive child once contacted by voices she knew only as “the radio people,” Holly is a lightning rod for psychic phenomena. Now, as she wanders deeper into the English countryside, visions and coincidences reorder her reality until they assume the aura of a nightmare brought to life.

For Holly has caught the attention of a cabal of dangerous mystics—and their enemies. But her lost weekend is merely the prelude to a shocking disappearance that leaves her family irrevocably scarred. This unsolved mystery will echo through every decade of Holly’s life, affecting all the people Holly loves—even the ones who are not yet born.

A Cambridge scholarship boy grooming himself for wealth and influence, a conflicted father who feels alive only while reporting from occupied Iraq, a middle-aged writer mourning his exile from the bestseller list—all have a part to play in this surreal, invisible war on the margins of our world. From the medieval Swiss Alps to the nineteenth-century Australian bush, from a hotel in Shanghai to a Manhattan townhouse in the near future, their stories come together in moments of everyday grace and extraordinary wonder.

Thoughts so far:

The unique voice of this novel is fun and memorable. There seems to be a bit of a paranormal spin on the story so far. It is on the slower side. I am 50 pages in and have not figured out what is going on. Holly, our main character, seems to be a bit immature and naïve but I could see her growing into a much more powerful later in the novel. Her youth does not venture into the realm of annoying though. I look forward to figuring out what is going on and would recommend it to people that enjoy British literature (the author lives in Ireland) and mysteries.

Title: Alan Turing: The Enigma
Author: Andrew Hodges
Page Count: 664
Genre: Biography

Synopsis from Goodreads:

It is only a slight exaggeration to say that the British mathematician Alan Turing (1912-1954) saved the Allies from the Nazis, invented the computer and artificial intelligence, and anticipated gay liberation by decades--all before his suicide at age forty-one. This acclaimed biography of the founder of computer science, with a new preface by the author that addresses Turing's royal pardon in 2013, is the definitive account of an extraordinary mind and life.

Capturing both the inner and outer drama of Turing's life, Andrew Hodges tells how Turing's revolutionary idea of 1936--the concept of a universal machine--laid the foundation for the modern computer and how Turing brought the idea to practical realization in 1945 with his electronic design. The book also tells how this work was directly related to Turing's leading role in breaking the German Enigma ciphers during World War II, a scientific triumph that was critical to Allied victory in the Atlantic. At the same time, this is the tragic account of a man who, despite his wartime service, was eventually arrested, stripped of his security clearance, and forced to undergo a humiliating treatment program--all for trying to live honestly in a society that defined homosexuality as a crime.

The inspiration for a major motion picture starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, "The Imitation Game" is a gripping story of mathematics, computers, cryptography, and homosexual persecution.  

Thoughts so far:

The movie inspired by this biography is one of my all time favorites. It introduced me to the incredibly complex and inspiring Alan Turing. That being said, I am enjoying the biography. BUT I probably would not recommend it for absolutely every reader. Alan Turing was a mathematician. Andrew Hodges is also a mathematician. Both are incredibly intelligent men. If you are maybe a slower reader or have trouble with more difficult works you might not enjoy this biography. If you have at least a high school graduate reading level you should be fine. If you have a college undergraduate reading level it will probably be easier. I would recommend it to those that are interested in math, science, and history. Casual readers looking for a light read? Probably not.

Title: A Storm of Swords
Author: George R. R. Martin
Page Count: 1,128
Genre: Fantasy

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Here is the third volume in George R.R. Martin's magnificent cycle of novels that includes A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings. Together, this series comprises a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, destined to stand as one of the great achievements of imaginative fiction.

Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, victim of the sorceress who holds him in her thrall. Young Robb still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled queen, Daenerys, mistress of the only three dragons still left in the world. And as opposing forces manoeuver for the final showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings arrives from the outermost limits of civilization, accompanied by a horde of mythical Others—a supernatural army of the living dead whose animated corpses are unstoppable. As the future of the land hangs in the balance, no one will rest until the Seven Kingdoms have exploded in a veritable storm of swords...

Thoughts so far:

I am over half way through this one! All of the Game of Thrones books take me forever to read. I started this one in January. I love them all but they are crazy long and I find taking breaks to read other works can make it easier to get through. I probably would have been further into this one but I took a couple month break when the person I was reading it with and I stopped talking. Now I'm back and I just read the Red Wedding scene (I will not explain further as to not spoil those surely very few people who do not know what that is...it would be much better to be surprised). George R. R. Martin certainly is a cheery fellow. I would recommend this series for fans of the HBO show, high fantasy, and individuals with great levels of dedication and patience. It is great fun! Not appropriate for very young readers. I often hide it from my young cousin who enthusiastically refers to it as "that dragon book".

Title: Red Victory: A History of the Russian Civil War
Author: W. Bruce Lincoln
Page Count: 526
Genre: Russian History

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Shortly after withdrawing from World War I, Russia descended into a bitter civil war unprecedented for its savagery: epidemics, battles, mass executions, forced labor, and famine claimed millions of lives. From 1918 to 1921, through great cities and tiny villages, across untouched forests and vast frozen wasteland, the Bolshevik "Reds" fought the anti-Communist Whites and their Allies (fourteen foreign countries contributed weapons, money, and troops—including 20,000 American soldiers). This landmark history re-creates the epic conflict that transformed Russia from the Empire of the Tsars into the Empire of the Commissars, while never losing sight of the horrifying human cost.

Thoughts so far:

I am not very far into this one (only a couple of pages) but I am excited to get further into this one. It is kind of interesting because the book was published in 1989 and refers to the Soviet Union in the present tense. That is going to take some getting used to. I chose this one based on my general interest in Russia. My second language is Russian and I took several Russian culture and history classes in college. In grad school I will be taking more Russian classes. It has been a fascination of mine for a long time. Should be fun to continue on with!


*I am also reading Zibaldone by Giacomo Leopardi but I am nowhere near far enough into the massive tome to give a good opinion. I'll put an update up soon though!

Random July History Book Haul

When you end up spending an hour in the used bookstore's world history section you cannot leave without at least one book. I left with three! And no one is surprised. Enjoy perusing these wonderful titles!

Title: Cleopatra
Author: Stacy Schiff
Page Count: 302
Genre: Biography, Egypt

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer brings to life the most intriguing woman in the history of the world: Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt.

Her palace shimmered with onyx, garnet, and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator. Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world.

She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first when both were teenagers. She poisoned the second. Ultimately she dispensed with an ambitious sister as well; incest and assassination were family specialties. Cleopatra appears to have had sex with only two men. They happen, however, to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, among the most prominent Romans of the day. Both were married to other women. Cleopatra had a child with Caesar and--after his murder--three more with his protégé. Already she was the wealthiest ruler in the Mediterranean; the relationship with Antony confirmed her status as the most influential woman of the age. The two would together attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled their ends. Cleopatra has lodged herself in our imaginations ever since.

Famous long before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons. Shakespeare and Shaw put words in her mouth. Michelangelo, Tiepolo, and Elizabeth Taylor put a face to her name. Along the way, Cleopatra's supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff here boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order. Rich in detail, epic in scope, Schiff's is a luminous, deeply original reconstruction of a dazzling life.  

Title: The Romanov Sisters
Author: Helen Rappaport
Page Count: 381
Genre: Russian History, Biography

Synopsis from Goodreads:

They were the Princess Dianas of their day—perhaps the most photographed and talked about young royals of the early twentieth century. The four captivating Russian Grand Duchesses—Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia Romanov—were much admired for their happy dispositions, their looks, the clothes they wore and their privileged lifestyle.

Over the years, the story of the four Romanov sisters and their tragic end in a basement at Ekaterinburg in 1918 has clouded our view of them, leading to a mass of sentimental and idealized hagiography. With this treasure trove of diaries and letters from the grand duchesses to their friends and family, we learn that they were intelligent, sensitive and perceptive witnesses to the dark turmoil within their immediate family and the ominous approach of the Russian Revolution, the nightmare that would sweep their world away, and them along with it.

The Romanov Sisters sets out to capture the joy as well as the insecurities and poignancy of those young lives against the backdrop of the dying days of late Imperial Russia, World War I and the Russian Revolution. Rappaort aims to present a new and challenging take on the story, drawing extensively on previously unseen or unpublished letters, diaries and archival sources, as well as private collections. It is a book that will surprise people, even aficionados.

Title: From Splendor to Revolution: The Romanov Women 1847-1928
Author: Julia P. Gelardi
Page Count: 389
Genre: Russian History, Biography

Synopsis from Goodreads:

This sweeping saga recreates the extraordinary opulence and violence of Tsarist Russia as the shadow of revolution fell over the land, and destroyed a way of life for these Imperial women

The early 1850s until the late 1920s marked a turbulent and significant era for Russia. During that time the country underwent a massive transformation, taking it from days of grandeur under the tsars to the chaos of revolution and the beginnings of the Soviet Union.

At the center of all this tumult were four women of the Romanov dynasty. Marie Alexandrovna and Olga Constantinovna were born into the family, Russian Grand Duchesses at birth. Marie Feodorovna and Marie Pavlovna married into the dynasty, the former born a Princess of Denmark, the latter a Duchess of the German duchy of Mecklendburg-Schwerin.

In From Splendor to Revolution, we watch these pampered aristocratic women fight for their lives as the cataclysm of war engulfs them. In a matter of a few short years, they fell from the pinnacle of wealth and power to the depths of danger, poverty, and exile. It is an unforgettable epic story.

June Book Haul! Part 2

Part 2 of June's amazing book haul!

Title: Zibaldone
Author: Giacomo Leopardi
Page Count: 2,502
Genre: Essay, Biography, Personal Notes

Synopsis from Goodreads:

A groundbreaking translation of the epic work of one of the great minds of the nineteenth century.

Giacomo Leopardi was the greatest Italian poet of the nineteenth century and was recognized by readers from Nietzsche to Beckett as one of the towering literary figures in Italian history. To many, he is the finest Italian poet after Dante. (Jonathan Galassi’s translation of Leopardi’s Canti was published by FSG in 2010.)    

He was also a prodigious scholar of classical literature and philosophy, and a voracious reader in numerous ancient and modern languages. For most of his writing career, he kept an immense notebook, known as the Zibaldone, or “hodge-podge,” as Harold Bloom has called it, in which Leopardi put down his original, wide-ranging, radically modern responses to his reading. His comments about religion, philosophy, language, history, anthropology, astronomy, literature, poetry, and love are unprecedented in their brilliance and suggestiveness, and the Zibaldone, which was only published at the turn of the twentieth century, has been recognized as one of the foundational books of modern culture.

Its 4,500-plus pages have never been fully translated into English until now, when a team under the auspices of Michael Caesar and Franco D’Intino of the Leopardi Centre in Birmingham, England, have spent years producing a lively, accurate version. This essential book will change our understanding of nineteenth-century culture. This is an extraordinary, epochal publication.

Title: The Historian
Author: Elizabeth Kostova
Page Count: 642
Genre: Fiction

Synopsis from Goodreads:

To you, perceptive reader, I bequeath my history....Late one night, exploring her father's library, a young woman finds an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters. The letters are all addressed to "My dear and unfortunate successor," and they plunge her into a world she never dreamed of-a labyrinth where the secrets of her father's past and her mother's mysterious fate connect to an inconceivable evil hidden in the depths of history.The letters provide links to one of the darkest powers that humanity has ever known-and to a centuries-long quest to find the source of that darkness and wipe it out. It is a quest for the truth about Vlad the Impaler, the medieval ruler whose barbarous reign formed the basis of the legend of Dracula. Generations of historians have risked their reputations, their sanity, and even their lives to learn the truth about Vlad the Impaler and Dracula. Now one young woman must decide whether to take up this quest herself-to follow her father in a hunt that nearly brought him to ruin years ago, when he was a vibrant young scholar and her mother was still alive. What does the legend of Vlad the Impaler have to do with the modern world? Is it possible that the Dracula of myth truly existed-and that he has lived on, century after century, pursuing his own unknowable ends? The answers to these questions cross time and borders, as first the father and then the daughter search for clues, from dusty Ivy League libraries to Istanbul, Budapest, and the depths of Eastern Europe. In city after city, in monasteries and archives, in letters and in secret conversations, the horrible truth emerges about Vlad the Impaler's dark reign-and about a time-defying pact that may have kept his awful work alive down through the ages.Parsing obscure signs and hidden texts, reading codes worked into the fabric of medieval monastic traditions-and evading the unknown adversaries who will go to any lengths to conceal and protect Vlad's ancient powers-one woman comes ever closer to the secret of her own past and a confrontation with the very definition of evil. Elizabeth Kostova's debut novel is an adventure of monumental proportions, a relentless tale that blends fact and fantasy, history and the present, with an assurance that is almost unbearably suspenseful-and utterly unforgettable.


Title: Trickster's Queen
Author: Tamora Pierce
Page Count: 467
Genre: Children-Middle Grade Fantasy

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The stage is set for revolution...

Aly: no longer just a master spy, but a master of spies. Can she balance her passion for justice and her compassion for others, and at what cost?

Sarai: beautiful, dramatic, and rash - will she fulfill the role chosen for her by destiny?

Dove: she has always stood in Sarai's shadow. Can she prove to the world that she herself is a force to be reckoned with?

Nawat: half crow, half man. He wants Aly for his life mate, but will the revolution make that impossible as they step into new roles to change the future?

Title: Dead in the Family
Author: Charlaine Harris
Page Count: 311
Genre: Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Romance(ish)

Synopsis from Goodreads:

It's all about family ...

Sookie Stackhouse is dealing with a whole host of family problems, ranging from her own kin (a non-human fairy and a telepathic second cousin) demanding a place in her life, to her lover Eric's vampire sire, an ancient being who arrives with Eric's 'brother' in tow at a most inopportune moment. And Sookie's tracking down a distant relation of her ailing neighbour (and ex), Vampire Bill Compton.

In addition to the multitude of family issues complicating her life, the werewolf pack of Shreveport has asked Sookie for a special favour, and since Sookie is an obliging young woman, she agrees. But this favour for the wolves has dire results for Sookie, who is still recovering from the trauma of her abduction during the Fairy War.

Title: Clockwork Prince
Author: Cassandra Clare
Page Count: 498
Genre: YA Fantasy

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street—and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa’s powers for his own dark ends.

With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister’s war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move—and that one of their own has betrayed them.

Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, but her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will—the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?

As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.

Title: Catching Fire
Author: Suzanne Collins
Page Count: 391
Genre: YA, Dystopian

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, hap
py even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol - a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

In Catching Fire, the second novel in the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins continues the story
of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before...and surprising readers at every turn.

June Book Haul! Part 1

June was filled with trips to Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and used bookstores with killer sales (the photography book I bought was originially $50...I got it for $7). Seventeen books total made their way home with me this month! Below is part 1 of 2 of this month's book haul. Enjoy the abundance of reading material :)

Title: Alan Turing: The Enigma
Author: Andrew Hodges
Page Count: 736
Genre: Biography

Synopsis from Goodreads:

It is only a slight exaggeration to say that the British mathematician Alan Turing (1912-1954) saved the Allies from the Nazis, invented the computer and artificial intelligence, and anticipated gay liberation by decades--all before his suicide at age forty-one. This acclaimed biography of the founder of computer science, with a new preface by the author that addresses Turing's royal pardon in 2013, is the definitive account of an extraordinary mind and life.

Capturing both the inner and outer drama of Turing's life, Andrew Hodges tells how Turing's revolutionary idea of 1936--the concept of a universal machine--laid the foundation for the modern computer and how Turing brought the idea to practical realization in 1945 with his electronic design. The book also tells how this work was directly related to Turing's leading role in breaking the German Enigma ciphers during World War II, a scientific triumph that was critical to Allied victory in the Atlantic. At the same time, this is the tragic account of a man who, despite his wartime service, was eventually arrested, stripped of his security clearance, and forced to undergo a humiliating treatment program--all for trying to live honestly in a society that defined homosexuality as a crime.

The inspiration for a major motion picture starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, "The Imitation Game" is a gripping story of mathematics, computers, cryptography, and homosexual persecution.  


Title: A Feast of Crows
Author: George R. R. Martin
Page Count: 978
Genre: Fantasy

Synopsis from Goodreads:

With A Feast for Crows, Martin delivers the long-awaited fourth volume of the landmark series that has redefined imaginative fiction and stands as a modern masterpiece in the making.

After centuries of bitter strife, the seven powers dividing the land have beaten one another into an uneasy truce. But it's not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters of the Seven Kingdoms gather. Now, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous new alliances are formed while surprising faces—some familiar, others only just appearing—emerge from an ominous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges of the terrible times ahead. Nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages, are coming together to stake their fortunes...and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests—but only a few are the survivors.

Title: A Dance of Dragons
Author: George R. R. Martin
Page Count: 1051
Genre: Fantasy

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance—beset by newly emerging threats from every direction. In the east, Daenerys Targaryen, the last scion of House Targaryen, rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has thousands of enemies, and many have set out to find her. As they gather, one young man embarks upon his own quest for the queen, with an entirely different goal in mind.

Fleeing from Westeros with a price on his head, Tyrion Lannister, too, is making his way to Daenerys. But his newest allies in this quest are not the rag-tag band they seem, and at their heart lies one who could undo Daenerys’s claim to Westeros forever.

Meanwhile, to the north lies the mammoth Wall of ice and stone—a structure only as strong as those guarding it. There, Jon Snow, 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, will face his greatest challenge. For he has powerful foes not only within the Watch but also beyond, in the land of the creatures of ice.

From all corners, bitter conflicts reignite, intimate betrayals are perpetrated, and a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves, will face seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Some will fail, others will grow in the strength of darkness. But in a time of rising restlessness, the tides of destiny and politics will lead inevitably to the greatest dance of all.


Title: Fevre Dream
Author: George R. R. Martin
Page Count: 461
Genre: Fantasy

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Abner Marsh, a struggling riverboat captain, suspects that something’s amiss when he is approached by a wealthy aristocrat with a lucrative offer. The hauntingly pale, steely-eyed Joshua York doesn’t care that the icy winter of 1857 has wiped out all but one of Marsh’s dilapidated fleet; nor does he care that he won’t earn back his investment in a decade. York’s reasons for traversing the powerful Mississippi are to be none of Marsh’s concern—no matter how bizarre, arbitrary, or capricious York’s actions may prove. Not until the maiden voyage of Fevre Dream does Marsh realize that he has joined a mission both more sinister, and perhaps more noble, than his most fantastic nightmare—and humankind’s most impossible dream.

Title: The Bone Clocks
Author: David Mitchell
Page Count: 624
Genre: Fiction

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Following a scalding row with her mother, fifteen-year-old Holly Sykes slams the door on her old life. But Holly is no typical teenage runaway: a sensitive child once contacted by voices she knew only as “the radio people,” Holly is a lightning rod for psychic phenomena. Now, as she wanders deeper into the English countryside, visions and coincidences reorder her reality until they assume the aura of a nightmare brought to life.

For Holly has caught the attention of a cabal of dangerous mystics—and their enemies. But her lost weekend is merely the prelude to a shocking disappearance that leaves her family irrevocably scarred. This unsolved mystery will echo through every decade of Holly’s life, affecting all the people Holly loves—even the ones who are not yet born.

A Cambridge scholarship boy grooming himself for wealth and influence, a conflicted father who feels alive only while reporting from occupied Iraq, a middle-aged writer mourning his exile from the bestseller list—all have a part to play in this surreal, invisible war on the margins of our world. From the medieval Swiss Alps to the nineteenth-century Australian bush, from a hotel in Shanghai to a Manhattan townhouse in the near future, their stories come together in moments of everyday grace and extraordinary wonder.

Title: In Sunlight and in Shadow
Author: Mark Helprin
Page Count: 705
Genre: Fiction

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Entrancing in its lyricism, In Sunlight and in Shadow so powerfully draws you into New York at the dawn of the modern age that, as in a vivid dream, you will not want to leave. In 1946, Harry Copeland has returned after fighting in the 82nd Airborne from North Africa all the way to the Elbe. Reluctantly assuming the direction of the family fine leather goods manufacture, he finds his life unsatisfactory and on hold – until he is “accidentally” united with Catherine Thomas Hale, the woman for whom he has been waiting all his life, although the forces behind his patience have never been revealed to him. A young actress, singer, and heiress, she has been waiting for him, even if she has known this only in flashes that do not come clear to her until the end of the narrative, and that have not prevented her engagement to a much older man who has been taking advantage of her since childhood.

The meeting of Catherine and Harry, their courtship, and their intense love, play out on the stage of New York awakening at mid-century – in the deep worlds of the theater, industry, and high finance, and during the collision of aristocratic New York society with the formidable wave of second-generation, fully assimilated Jews. Though after being broken in the war Harry wants nothing but peace, family, and love, organized crime carries on its extortions as always, even in a city now full of the kind of men who stormed the Point du Hoc and the Siegfried Line. This becomes his moral and physical struggle. While Catherine’s is of a different nature, it is just as consequential, and the courage required of her is perhaps even greater.

Of the widest scope – from the air over Sicily to the heat-and-color-saturated Sacramento Valley; the Bay of Biscay to the sea off Maine; the steel mills of Gary, Indiana to the beaches of Amagansett; London in the blitz; the invasion of Normandy; and a single shell gliding across an American lake in August; from the luminous houses of the wealthy to the pounding of the boards beneath a Broadway chorus line – this is yet, first, and foremost a love story, but also a hymn to New York of the period when one great age elided into the other that we call our own. Rich in language and classical allusion, it is true to the mottoes at its outset: the Dantean “Amor mi mosse, che me fa parlare,” “Love moved me, and made me speak,” and to the lines of Lucretius that describe Catherine’s extraordinary representation of the powers, beauties, and graces of womanhood – “Nothing comes forth into the shores of light, or is glad or lovely without you.”


Title: Midwinterblood
Author: Marcus Sedgwick
Page Count: 262
Genre: YA

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Seven stories of passion and love separated by centuries but mysteriously intertwined--this is a tale of horror and beauty, tenderness and sacrifice.
An archaeologist who unearths a mysterious artifact, an airman who finds himself far from home, a painter, a ghost, a vampire, and a Viking: the seven stories in this compelling novel all take place on the remote Scandinavian island of Blessed where a curiously powerful plant that resembles a dragon grows. What binds these stories together? What secrets lurk beneath the surface of this idyllic countryside? And what might be powerful enough to break the cycle of midwinterblood? From award-winning author Marcus Sedgwick comes a book about passion and preservation and ultimately an exploration of the bounds of love.

Title: The Shadow of the Wind
Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafron
Page Count: 486
Genre: Fiction

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax’s books in existence. Soon Daniel’s seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets--an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.

Title: Red Victory: A History of the Russian Civil War
Author: W. Bruce Lincoln
Page Count: 526
Genre: Russian History, Soviet History

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Shortly after withdrawing from World War I, Russia descended into a bitter civil war unprecedented for its savagery: epidemics, battles, mass executions, forced labor, and famine claimed millions of lives. From 1918 to 1921, through great cities and tiny villages, across untouched forests and vast frozen wasteland, the Bolshevik "Reds" fought the anti-Communist Whites and their Allies (fourteen foreign countries contributed weapons, money, and troops—including 20,000 American soldiers). This landmark history re-creates the epic conflict that transformed Russia from the Empire of the Tsars into the Empire of the Commissars, while never losing sight of the horrifying human cost.


Title: The DUFF
Author: Kody Keplinger
Page Count: 277
Genre: YA

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper may not be the prettiest girl in her high school, but she has a loyal group of friends, a biting wit, and a spot-on BS detector. She's also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. But things aren't so great at home and Bianca, desperate for a distraction, ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him.Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn't such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she's falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

Title: The Soviet Image
Author: Peter Radetsky
Page Count: 288
Genre: Photography, History, Soviet History

Synopsis from Goodreads:

For the first time, the Russian news agency TASS has opened its complete photographic archives to create an unprecedented and uncensored look at the last 100 years of life in the Soviet Union and the new Russia. Featuring more than 300 astonishing photographsmany never before publishedthese images capture the daily life of a people through the dramatic sweep of Russian history, from royalty to revolution and the rise and fall of communism. Illuminated by informative essays and extended captions that provide context on the times and the photographs, this is the definitive visual record of Russian history as seen through Russian eyes.  

A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses series #1)

Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Page Count: 416
Rating: B
Keywords: Fairytale retelling, Beauty and the Beast, romance, Fae, good vs. evil
Genre: YA Fantasy
Younger Readers: this would probably be closer to new adult than young adult, sex scenes are present and more detailed than the general fade away scenes present in younger YA, not a full blown romance novel though

Synopsis from Goodreads:

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

Perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore and George R. R. Martin, this first book in a sexy and action-packed new series is impossible to put down!

Review:

   I originally bought this book simply because it was by Sarah J. Maas, the ruling goddess of YA fantasy at the moment. I love her Throne of Glass series and was excited to see another of her stories. The beautiful cover (which is reminiscent of Sansa from HBO's Game of Thrones) was another draw for me. My "B" rating of the book is not so much about the book, but more my expectations built upon the fabulous Maas.
   This is a Beauty and the Beast retelling with a faerie twist (let it be noted that these faeries differ from those present in her Throne of Glass series). As a retelling it was highly enjoyable. I could easily pick out the inspiration from my favorite fairytale but it was unique enough that it did not feel redundant and tired. Tamlin (our Beast) is a faerie with a curse causing a mask to be permanently adhered to his face and Feyre (our Beauty) is a human huntress who cannot read. The magical land where the faeries live is very interesting with its complex hierarchies and customs. I really enjoyed the way that their culture was developed over the course of the work.
   I really enjoy Maas ability to introduce characters in a harsh light and then almost force the reader to love them. She did this for Manon in Heir of Fire and she did it for a few characters in this book as well. Lucien is a part of Tamlin's court. He is initially presented as antagonistic towards Feyre and his hostility makes him mildly repulsive. However, he does begin to grow on the reader and there is no denying warm fuzzy feelings for the fox masked faerie. Rhys/Rhysand is another of these changeable characters. He grows from pure evil to sort of manipulative to actually likeable. I have some theories about his closing scene in this book and where it will lead in the rest of series but I don't want to spoil anything. Do not fear though. There is a truly evil villain, Amarantha, who is exceptionally fun to hate with a passion as she makes our heroine's life a living hell. Her back story explains her enough without making the reader feel sympathetic or conflicted over hating her. The blend of questionable characters and clear cut villains was enjoyable and kept up the momentum of the story.
   When I was perusing reviews prior to reading I noticed a theme. Many people loved the book but "romance", "smut", "steamy", "swoon" and "hot" were words used frequently. These are not what I would typically expect from a YA novel and for the first half of the book I did not see what the other reviewers were referring to. Now after completing the book I will say that it makes more sense. Our heroine, Feyre, is not a virgin nor is she treated as being an innocent and ignorant girl. There are sex scenes present. I probably would not let my young cousins (under the age of 12) read this but I would not tell all teens to avoid it. The maturity and comfort level of the reader should be the real determining factor. It is a step above average YA but nowhere near the levels of detailed sex scenes present in A Bronze Horseman or true romance novels.
   It should also be noted that this novel felt very much like a standalone. This is not the case, however. A Court of Thorns and Roses is actually the first installment in a projected trilogy. I fully intend to stick with the series.
   Overall, a fun and fast paced read that will cure boredom with ease. This is not a heavy fantasy read. I read it in two days during finals week at university. It's not perfect but it is more than readable. I highly recommend it if you like fairytales, love stories, fantasy, and masks. Oh my, the masks.

Also Recommend:

If you love Beauty and the Beast like I do, I would recommend checking out Beauty by Robin McKinley. One of my favorites from years ago!

Interested in British History?

   Hi! In my last semester as an undergraduate student I took a course entitled Britain 1485-1688. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and developed a much better understanding of Britain's past (especially since the majority of my history knowledge is concentrated on Russia and the Soviet Union) and how these years shaped modern day Britain. Below I am providing a list of the books we read in the class. Most of these concentrate on the fluctuating religious doctrines of the time and can be a bit dry, but can be beneficial to your studies! Hope you enjoy.

Title: Early Modern England 1485-
           1714: A Narrative History
Authors: Robert Bucholz and
                Newton Key
Page Count: 391

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The second edition of this bestselling narrative history has been revised and expanded to reflect recent scholarship. The book traces the transformation of England during the Tudor-Stuart period, from feudal European state to a constitutional monarchy and the wealthiest and most powerful nation on Earth. Written by two leading scholars and experienced teachers of the subject, assuming no prior knowledge of British historyProvides student aids such as maps, illustrations, genealogies, and glossaryThis edition reflects recent scholarship on Henry VIII and the Civil WarExtends coverage of the Reformations, the Rump and Barebone's Parliament, Cromwellian settlement of Ireland, and the European, Scottish, and Irish contexts of the Restoration and Revolution of 1688-9Includes a new section on women's roles and the historiography of women and genderAccompanied by "Sources and Debates in English History, 1485-1714".

Review:

This was our main text book for the course and we used the second edition. I really enjoyed the narrative aspect. It was not all dry information being spewed at the reader. This book was easy to understand and kept the attention of the reader better than most history text books I have encountered.

Title: The Voices of Morebath:
           Reformation & Rebellion in an
           English Village
Author: Eamon Duffy
Page Count: 190

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In the fifty years between 1530 and 1580, England moved from being one of the most lavishly Catholic countries in Europe to being a Protestant nation, a land of whitewashed churches and anti-papal preaching. What was the impact of this religious change in the countryside? And how did country people feel about the revolutionary upheavals that transformed their mental and material worlds under Henry VIII and his three children.

In this book a reformation historian takes us inside the mind and heart of Morebath, a remote and tiny sheep farming village where thirty-three families worked the difficult land on the southern edge of Exmoor. The bulk of Morebath’s conventional archives have long since vanished. But from 1520 to 1574, through nearly all the drama of the English Reformation, Morebath’s only priest, Sir Christopher Trychay, kept the parish accounts on behalf of the churchwardens. Opinionated, eccentric, and talkative, Sir Christopher filled these vivid scripts for parish meetings with the names and doings of his parishioners. Through his eyes we catch a rare glimpse of the life and pre-reformation piety of a sixteenth-century English village.

The book offers a unique window into a rural word in crisis as the reformation progressed. Sir Christopher Trychay’s accounts provide direct evidence of the motives which drove hitherto law-abiding West-country communities to participate in the doomed Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549 – a siege that ended in bloody defeat and a wave of executions. Its church bells confiscated and silenced, Morebath shared in the punishment imposed on all the towns and villages of Devon and Cornwall. Sir Christopher documents the changes in the community reluctantly Protestant, no longer focussed on the religious life of the parish, and increasingly preoccupied with the secular demands of the Elizabethan state, the equipping of armies, and the payment of taxes. Morebath’s priest, garrulous to the end of his days, describes a rural world irrevocably altered, and enables us to hear the voices of his villagers after four hundred years of silence.”

Review:

A good supplement to the textbook, it gives an insight to the religious conflict in England but from a smaller scale population's perspective. My lack of religious knowledge made this difficult to piece together at times, but the general reader with some knowledge of Christianity will likely be fine.


Title: The Pilgrim's Progress
Author: John Bunyan
Page Count: 290

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The Pilgrim's Progress has inspired readers for over three centuries. It is one of the best-loved and most widely read books in English literature and is a classic of the heroic Puritan tradition and a founding text in the development of the English novel. The story of Christian, whose pilgrimage takes him through the Slough of Despond, Vanity Fair, and the Delectable Mountains, is full of danger and adventure. Together with his trusty companions, Faithful and Hopeful, he encounters many enemies--the foul fiend Apollyon, Judge Hategood, Giant Despair of Doubting Castle--before finally arriving at the Celestial City.
Bunyan's own experience of religious persecution informs his story, and its qualities of psychological realism, and the beauty and simplicity of his prose combine to create a book whose appeal is universal. This edition includes the illustrations that appeared with the book in Bunyan's lifetime, giving a sense of its impact on contemporary readers.  

Review:

We only read the first part of this play, when the story is concentrated on Christian. If you enjoy examining symbolism and have a solid understanding of the basics of Christianity then you will enjoy this read.


Title: Fire From Heaven: Life in an
          English Town in the Seventeenth
          Century
Author: David Underdown
Page Count: 265

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Dorchester was a typical English country town, of middling size and unremarkable achievements. But on August 6, 1613, much of it was destroyed in a great conflagration, which its inhabitants regarded as a 'fire from heaven,' and which was the catalyst for the events described in this book. Over the next twenty years, a time of increasing political and religious turmoil all over Europe, Dorchester became the most religiously radical town in the kingdom.... David Underdown traces the way in which the tolerant, paternalist Elizabethan town oligarchy was quickly replaced by a group of men who had a vision of a godly community in which power was to be exercised according to religious commitment rather than wealth or rank. They succeeded, briefly, in making Dorchester a place that could boast systems of education and of assisting the sick and needy nearly three hundred years in advance of their time. The town achieved the highest rate of charitable giving in the country. It had ties of blood as well as faith with many of those who sailed to establish similarly godly communities in New England. Underdown skillfully sets the story of Dorchester in the context both of national events and of what was going on overseas. This parallel vision of the crisis that led to the English Civil War and of the incidence of the war itself opens fresh perspectives.

Review:

This was very similar to The Voices of Morebath as it serves to show the broader issues presented by the textbook in a smaller scale population.