Friday Finds (August 03)

What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!

My Finds:

Congratulations to Patty Blount, whose YA novel SEND just debuted this month from Sourcebooks, Inc!

This is always an exciting time for writers (though I wouldn’t yet know). The idea for SEND was sparked from a suggestion to become more familiar with social media, but became  the story of a teenage boy who, with one click of the send button on a cell phone, ends one life and ruins several others.  I have yet to read Patty’s novel, but after reading the first chapter on amazon, it’s obvious that SEND is a YA novel I won’t NOT be reading for long!

Synopsis: All Dan wants for his senior year is to be invisible. This is his last chance at a semi–normal life. Nobody here knows who he is. Or what he’s done. But on his first day at school, instead of turning away like everyone else, Dan breaks up a fight. Because Dan knows what it’s like to be terrorized by a bully—he used to be one.

Now the whole school thinks he’s some kind of hero—except Julie. She looks at him like she knows he has a secret. Like she knows his name isn’t really Daniel…

Random Fact: Patty and I met on YALITCHAT, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the reading, writing, and publishing of young adult literature.

Official website: www.pattyblount.com
Amazon: www.amazon.com/Send-Patty-Blount
Barnes & Noble: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/send-patty-blount
Book Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=asIMu-WkfEQ

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Friday Finds post, or share your ‘finds’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

Book cover courtesy of Patty Blount. Post image by Tom Woodward from Richmond, VA, US

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FRIDAY FINDS is where you share the book titles you discovered or heard about during the past week. These can be books you were told about, books you discovered while browsing blogs/bookstores online, or books that you actually purchased. MOST of the books MizB shares in her Friday Finds are titles that she discovered somewhere online — not actually books she’s purchased. [See Archives]

 

Friday Finds (July 13)

What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!

My Finds:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Part III weaves the competition in the Hunger Games into one game. Katniss has done a few things to make her stance both known and feared. She is also given an opportunity to join a team and gain a new companion. She is a very impressive girl, full of wit and smarts. Some events are more difficult than others for her to handle, such as healing someone who inevitably weakens her defenses, or when she becomes conflicted between her home life with Gale and her new connection to Peeta. Each time, Katniss raises her chin high, and is truthful to herself, and to those around her! At the end of the novel, her life is in more jeopardy than in the games, and yet she doesn’t cower under a rock and hide. She figures out how to win.

Note on the “Relationship”: Katniss’ relationship with Peeta isn’t portrayed well in the movie. Back in Part 1, Peeta threw the loaf of bread to Katniss’ feet, not into the street for her to watch soak up the rain. In the train car on their way to the Capitol, Katniss reflects upon his kindness, afraid of having feelings for someone she will have to kill – the movie makes it look like she’s mad at him (probably the bread lying soggy in the street). I wasn’t convinced of their connection (Yes, I was a Galniss fan). After reading the book, I’m totally rooting for Katta!

Overall Review: The Hunger Games is a brilliant novel. Collins’ nails the task of creating characters with admirable traits, individual quirks, and even bestowing sympathy from the reader for the “bad guys.” The plot is also a thrill, something like a cocktail of Roman gladiator matches and current propaganda and the media. The underlying message is my favorite part: intelligence and compassion are the greatest survival tools, as well as what makes a person human.

Like I’ve said in my previous post on Part 1, Collin’s writing style is a little too simple for me. My taste is more lyrical and extra-detailed. What I am NOT saying is that it’s bad good writing. This is only an instance of personal preference.

Suzanne Collins Website:
http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Friday Finds post, or share your ‘finds’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

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FRIDAY FINDS is where you share the book titles you discovered or heard about during the past week. These can be books you were told about, books you discovered while browsing blogs/bookstores online, or books that you actually purchased. MOST of the books MizB shares in her Friday Finds are titles that she discovered somewhere online — not actually books she’s purchased. [See Archives]

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• Friday Finds (July 6) (jennifermhartsock.wordpress.com)
  
• Friday Finds (June 15) (jennifermhartsock.wordpress.com)

Book Cover Suzanne Collins. Post image by Tom Woodward from Richmond, VA, US

 

Friday Finds (July 6)

What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!

My Finds:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Part 2 of The Hunger Games involves skill, patience, and realizing our heroine’s heart and her fight for survival. At times, reading feels bogged down by the minute-by-minute accounts of sleeping in trees and washing off dirt, but this also offers the opportunity to recover with Katniss when she gets into trouble and manages to get out and find time to breathe safely. This is one brave and heartfelt girl –  a role model for not only young girls, but everyone. She reads like a real person, who uses her past experiences to her advantage (instead of a hindrance), like a true hero.

Spoiler (and my favorite scene): Chapter 18 is when Rue is struck with a spear from the boy from District 1. (Rue reminds Katniss of her baby sister, and therefore becomes her ally and motivation to win the games apart from Prim). Instead of leaving the body to be picked up by a hovercraft like the rest of those who have fallen, Katniss dresses Rue’s body in flowers. This is done out of respect for Rue, but also to prove to the Capitol that they don’t fully control her humanity in the games.

Now, this is a very unmoving scene that becomes tolerable with Katniss’ actions of respect, but what brought tears to my eyes is Katniss looking into the sky and finding a parachute; a sponsored gift. It is a loaf of bread sent from Rue’s District; a poor nation that had to scrounge for the collateral to pay for this token. This is the most soul-touching scene in the entire book for me. This is a slice of humanity at it’s best: a thank you for valuing human life.

Well done, Ms. Collins. Well done.

Suzanne Collins Website:
http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Friday Finds post, or share your ‘finds’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

Book cover Suzanne Collins. Post image by Tom Woodward from Richmond, VA, US

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FRIDAY FINDS is where you share the book titles you discovered or heard about during the past week. These can be books you were told about, books you discovered while browsing blogs/bookstores online, or books that you actually purchased. MOST of the books MizB shares in her Friday Finds are titles that she discovered somewhere online — not actually books she’s purchased. [see archives]

Related articles

• Friday Finds (June 15) (jennifermhartsock.wordpress.com)

 

Friday Finds (June 29)

What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!

My Finds:

We Didn’t, Stuart Dybek
I’m currently taking a Short Story Writing course, and in our anthology is a short story by Stuart Dybek that resonates with me in a peculiar way. On the surface, we have a couple who have not yet made love, who witness an tragedy that haunts their relationship. It is an eerie, yet recognizable happening — one we’ve all witnessed in our lives, whether it be with a relationship, internal conflict, or life changes. Perhaps it asks us to slow down, to see life for the very moment it is, and not get too caught up in “getting there” and missing out on what is “here.”

Dybek’s style of writing is beautiful, especially when introducing his characters and their conflict. I’ll be be sure to read more of his work as the summer goes on.

But we didn’t, not in the moonlight, or by the phosphorescent lanterns of lighning bugs in your back yard, not beneath the constellations we couldn’t see, let alone decipher, or in the dark glow that replaced the real darkness of night, a darkness already stolen from us, not with the skyline rising behind us while a city gradually decayed, not in the heat of summer while a Cold War raged despite the freedom of youth and the license of first love –- because of fate, karma, luck, what does it matter? –- we made not doing it a wonder, and yet we didn’t, we didn’t, we never did.
– Stuart Dybek

The Poetry Foundation: 
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/stuart-dybek

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Friday Finds post, or share your finds in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

Post image by Tom Woodward from Richmond, VA, US

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FRIDAY FINDS is where you share the book titles you discovered or heard about during the past week. These can be books you were told about, books you discovered while browsing blogs/bookstores online, or books that you actually purchased. MOST of the books MizB shares in her Friday Finds are titles that she discovered somewhere online — not actually books she’s purchased. [see archives]

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Related articles

• Friday Finds (June 29) (shouldbereading.wordpress.com)

 

Friday Finds (June 15)

What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!

My Finds:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
I just finished PART I of The Hunger Games. So far, the plot follows the hero’s journey archetype, casting Katniss into a pit of disaster without a way out. In the hero’s journey, the protagonist is set up to face a great challenge, their choice being the last test of their true potential. Usually, the protagonist must choose the more difficult, selfless pathway.

Katniss has abandoned a life of poverty to step in for her younger sister, but there is something else she must overcome before the story can portray a true hero. I have no doubt that Collins will deliver well.

Criticism: I’m an avid fan of detail (the more the better). Collins’ writing is very straight-forward, and easy to read in a way that doesn’t offer me the substance I need. Most of the time, I’m reading “I” statements (which makes sense since it’s written in first person, right?) Wrong. There are creative ways to switching up “I” statements, but it takes a lot of practice. But, overall, I’m enjoying this read and look forward to continuing the novel.

Suzanne Collins Website: 
http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Friday Finds post, or share your ‘finds’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

Book cover Suzanne Collins. Post image by Tom Woodward from Richmond, VA, US

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FRIDAY FINDS is where you share the book titles you discovered or heard about during the past week. These can be books you were told about, books you discovered while browsing blogs/bookstores online, or books that you actually purchased. MOST of the books MizB shares in her Friday Finds are titles that she discovered somewhere online — not actually books she’s purchased. [see archives]