tiny pink books

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler
Candlewick, 2003

Virginia Shreves has never fit in with her family.  While her parents and older siblings are tall, slender, and extraordinary in everything they do, Virginia is round, short and, well, average.  Following a self-imposed set of “fat girl rules of conduct,” Virginia sells herself short in just about everything, letting her mother force her into a diet and letting/making her not-a-boyfriend makeout buddy Froggy ignore her in school.  Things begin to fall apart when Virginia’s older brother (whom she idolized) is sent home from college and charged with date rape.  After a frightening brush with crash dieting and self mutilation, Virginia begins to stand up for herself and take control over her life.

I was surprised that I loved this book.  It’s been out for years and I’ve never gotten around to reading it until now…in part because the subject matter seemed a little tired and, well, overdone.  But, I’m happy to say that I really enjoyed The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things.  Although the story is slow to start, I found Mackler’s character of Virginia was incredibly realistic and likable.

People have complained that there are too many issues going on in this book, but I disagree.  I think that Mackler has weaved together an angsty set of teen problems in a way that is realistic and interesting.  Sure, she glosses over Virginia’s crash dieting and self mutilation, but I actually found that somewhat realistic.  Not all teen girls who experiment with unhealthy dieting are as intensely involved as Wintergirls would have you believe.  I think that’s what I liked about the book.  Virginia is somewhat normal and very easy to relate to–she’s uncomfortable in her skin, she let’s people (including her parents) walk all over her, and she’s too quick to second guess herself.  And yes, she dabbles with some pretty unhealthy subject matter through the book because that’s what some of us do before we learn better.

Anyway, my point is book=good.  Read it and enjoy!  I was even able to pass this one off to my boyfriend (who, granted, enjoys chicklit more than I do).  Recommended to readers who enjoy chicklit or problem novels (because this is both!).  I also think that adult readers who enjoy YA chicklit ala Sloppy Firsts may also find reading pleasure within.

Evermore: The Immortals by Alyson Noel
St. Martin’s Griffin, 2009

After surviving a horrible accident that leaves her entire family dead, Ever finds herself orphaned, living with an Aunt in sunny Orange County.  She also finds herself able to hear the thoughts of others, see auras, and hanging out with the ghost of her dead little sister.  Unfortunately, the psychic powers alienate and overwhelm her, leaving her unable to lead any kind of normal social life.  Predictably enough, a mysterious boy with no aura, Damen, arrives one day and Ever is powerfully drawn to him.  It’s love at first sight, but there are…complications.  Who (or what) is Damen?  Who is the mysterious girl who has turned up at his side?  Why does he disappear at every critical moment?

Though it echoes too strongly of the Twilight series, Evermore is still a fun read.  The supernatural drama may not be unique, but it manages to stay interesting.  My one complaint is that the character of Ever, and her subsequent relationship with Damen, is beyond frustrating.  I understand that Ever, having lost her entire family, is not the happiest soul, however, Noel has created the most passive character imaginable.  Ever seems to have few opinions, no interests of her own, and very little backbone.  I was very frustrated with Ever and Damen’s relationship for most of this book…yet I kept on reading.  I guess that would be the more telling factor.

Recommended for teens who like Twilight.  Adult Twilight fans may enjoy this, but it definitely reads more for a younger audience than some of the other crossover successes.  Despite its many flaws, I couldn’t stop reading…

Tales of the Madman Undergound:  An Historical Romance 1973 by John Barnes
Viking Juvenile, 2009

An interesting and unique book, Tales of a Madman Underground is an epic coming of age novel by John Barnes.  With over 500 pages, Madman chronicles the first six days of Karl Shoemaker’s senior year in high school in 1973 in epic detail.  Though his life is,a t surface level, dark and tumultuous, Karl manages.  His father is dead, his cat-collecting, drunk mother steals from him, he works more jobs than any teenager should, people think he’s a psychopath, and his friends consist of the other messed up kids in school–all of them forced to attend a therapy group at school, dubbed “The Madman Underground.”  As Karl struggles through this heap of problems, he discovers the strength of his relationships with both his friends and his community.

I really enjoyed this book and despite this, although I’m sure I would have enjoyed it as a teen, I’m not sure if the YA section is the best place for it.  Sure, it’s about teenagers and it is a coming of age story in the truest sense, but it’s also very nostalgic and feels more reminiscent of adolescence than the immediacy we usually encounter in YA literature.  It’s not just that it is set in the 1970’s (though that is part of it)…it has some very adult themes (and language, to boot!) that made me wonder if this book is really going to work for the YA audience.  It appealed to me as a good book with that perfect balance of funny/sad characters, but it just didn’t scream “teen appeal” to me.  I’ve had it on display in my library for two weeks now with no takers, but I’m hoping that buzz will grow and this book will find an audience.  Older teens, those who can handle the length at least, will pick this up if word of mouth grows, but I would hesitate before recommending it to a young readers.  Additionally, I really think that adults (especially guys), particularly younger adults (twenty-something, early adults, whatever you call them), will really enjoy this.  If only there was a way for them to find it…

Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden
Pan Macmillian, 1993

Even though it’s been out since 1993, I recently keep hearing about The Tomorrow series, an Australian series of YA books about a group of teenagers surviving an invasion and subsequent war in their small, rural town.  It’s an epic series, consisting of seven books and a whole further spin-off series.  The premise of the first book, Tomorrow, When the War Began, was too good for me to resist–a group of seven friends, led by Ellie Linton, travel to a remote part of the bush for an unsupervised camping trip and return to discover that their country has been invaded.  Their family and friends are all missing and soldiers are patrolling the town, hunting down remaining citizens like themselves.  What follows is a story that’s half survival and half warfare, as the group tries to set up a camp and fight guerrilla attacks against the invading army.

Although I overall liked this book, although I had some reservations.  I just felt like the plot went up and down too much in terms of the action.  Not just warfare action either–any type of plot movement took a good long while to develop.  The first signs of the war took more than fifty pages to appear.  When it finally does get going though, Tomorrow was hard to put down.  The emotional experiences, especially terror, of Ellie and her friends were told in such descriptive detail that it came right of the page and kept me up all night.  Unfortunately, these intense experiences were surrounded by so many long passages full of practical details (descriptions of the camping site, descriptions of the supplies, etc.) that the book really dragged.

Overall, I liked this book.  It was interesting and, at times, absolutely riveting.  I just wish it had been paced more evenly.  I’d still recommend it for readers seeking a well developed series, as it looks like the later books get more and more convoluted and intense.  It’d be hard to hand this to a reluctant reader, but for readers patient enough to get through the slower parts of the book, there is a good premise and some very interesting characters in here.  As for me, I don’t think I’m hooked enough on the series to read on…at least for a long while.

L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad
HarperCollins, 2009

So what’s a girl to do when she outgrows her semi-scripted reality television show?  Write a book of course!  Lauren Conrad, of The Hills fame, delivers a fun, LA infused debut in L.A. Candy, her first novel.  Predictably enough, L.A. Candy is a book about a plain, natural blond named Jane who is a sweet and innocent.  She and her friend Scarlet are “discovered” in an exclusive LA club and find their lives transformed as they are cast in a reality TV show with two other girls.  At first things seem fabulous–they are moved to an awesome apartment with free rent, Jane’s icy boss gives her a surprise promotion, and she’s asked out on a date by an amazingly cute guy…but how much of it is real and how much of it is for the television show?  Can Jane and Scarlet handle the pressure of overnight fame?  Can their new castmates really be trusted as friends?  Did Lauren Conrad really write this book?

Anyway, the thing about L.A. Candy is that if you, like me, enjoy The Hills for its glossy, almost mind-numbingly fake-but-real version of life in Los Angeles, you are in for a treat!  Mimicking The Hills on almost every level, L.A. Candy delivers a reading experience something along the same lines.  Even the chapter titles, for the most part, are titled like the episodes of The Hills (with a line of upcoming dialogue standing in as a title).  Yet another thing that peaked my interest was the way that Conrad (or her ghost writer, as the gossip may lead you to believe), describes the actual process of being on a reality television show.  I’ve often found myself wondering if they made people repeat lines, re-enact things for the cameras, and the like so it was enjoyable to read a fictionalized account of the behind the scenes protocol from an expert.

The major downside to this book is, of course, the quality of the writing.  Written in a very generic vocabulary and style, the writing feels overly simple and forced at times.  The plot and characters are all extremely formulaic and, although she ends it on a cliffhanger, you’ll find no surprise plot twists here.  Granted, the formulaic approach does make for an extremely steady, if not predictable, stream of plot movement that never gets too slow.  I still think that there’s a good book in L.A. Candy though.  For adult and teen fans of The Hills who want a don’t-make-me-think piece of fluff, L.A. Candy will deliver.  This probably doesn’t even need to be stated, but readers seeking sophisticated literature should probably look elsewhere.  Like most of the YA books I’ve been reading lately, there’s a steady stream of f-bombs and references to casual sex here to be mindful of for younger patrons as well.

The Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd
Holiday House 2009

Set in the near future, The Carbon Diaries 2015 tells the story of Laura, a teen living through the world’s first mandated carbon rationing program in England.  Not only is she dealing with the repercussions of drastically limiting energy consumption, but a series of major disasters, the meltdown of her dysfunctional family, drama with her punk rock band, abysmal school marks, and boys also weigh heavily on her life.  Told in diaries entries filled to the brim with punky British slang and a few pieces of photocopied ephemera mixed in, The Carbon Diaries 2015 is one of the most unique books that I’ve read in a while.

I did, however, find the book to be a little too slowly paced most of the time.  Though there are moments of action, they are surrounded by long, drawn out periods of well, non-action (kind of like real life).  Despite this, I still enjoyed this book a lot. I can’t, off the top of my head, name any other teen books (or any books, for that matter) that bring home a message of environmentalism in such a natural, non-didactic way.  Laura faces all the normal teenage problems of life, but they are affected (both positively and negatively) by the drastic changes in lifestyle that she faces by the carbon rationing.  She also has an awesome, snarky voice that teens, especially girls, will identify with.

Although I loved the concept and the mood of this book, I can’t say that it will win over reluctant readers.  I think that smart, patient readers who aren’t turned off by the lack of plot movement will find something worthwhile here.  Likewise, readers looking for a sarcastic and angsty teen girl voice will also enjoy.  Unfortunately, many readers may become frustrated by the generally slow pacing of the book, so I would be mindful of that before booktalking it to just any reader.  For the right reader though, this will be an eye-opening read.

Rebel Angels by Libba Bray
Random House, 2006
Continuing the Gemma Doyle saga, Rebel Angels delves further into the fantasy elements that were established in the enjoyable A Great and Terrible Beauty.  16-year-old Gemma Doyle is still at Spence Academy, learning how to be a fine young lady in her world of manners and corsets.  Taking place mostly over the Christmas holiday in London, Gemma and her two friends Felicity and Ann, find themselves destined to bind the magic in the mysterious and magical Realms.  Of course, there are hoards of magical creatures and secret societies looking for a piece of the magic, not to mention the evil and powerful Circe, who will stop at nothing to gain power.  Of course, there is also the drama of being a young lady in a rigid society of rules, traditions, of family problems, and of potential courtship with a handsome young gentleman.    Part fantasy and part historical fiction, Rebel Angels is an excellent chapter to this fun and addictive trilogy.

I’m normally highly resistant to historical fiction, but this series has really entertained me thus far.  While I liked A Great and Terrible Beauty overall, I found Rebel Angels to be more interesting and exciting, probably due to the fact that the story has darkened considerably.  Yes, it’s predictable and you can see the plot twists coming a mile ahead, but it’s fun and the combination of fantasy, historical fiction, and snarky girl drama is entertaining.  I think Rebel Angels will be well enjoyed by fans of the first book.  It’s a compelling page turner with a good dose of fantasy that mixes well with the historical setting and characters.

I listened to the audio version and higly recommend it!

The Vampire Diaries:  The Awakening and The Struggle by L.J. Smith
HarperTeen, 2007 (originally published in 1991)

Originally published in 1991, Book 1, The Awakening, and Book 2, The Struggle, have been released as one, thickish paperback beginners of The Vampire Diaries, which has also been made into a television series to air this fall on the CW.  I don’t have much to say about these books other than this-they certainly contain the elements of melodramatic, sticky teenage love at first sight AND glamorous, sexy vampires that made Twilight so popular, however, they are much more poorly written.  I think these books will made a decent readalike for the younger fans of Twilight, but more sophisticated readers will probably find them as painfully cliché as I did.  Still, younger readers who enjoyed Twilight will probably enjoy these quick and disposable books.  As for me, I actually read these a month ago and promptly forgot everything about them.  I look forward to the TV show though!