Audience Pick!

Title: Girls for Breakfast
Author: David Yoo
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Why I Read It: Because you told me to!

Summary: Korean-American Nick Park just graduated from high school and reflects back on his life.

Stopped on Page: 49
Why I Stopped: I’m on vacation right now, so I’m in the mood for quick reads. This book starts off with Nick graduating from high school, then flashes back to him in third grade. By 50 pages in, he’d only gotten up to recounting his fourth grade experience. It moved too slowly for my vacation mood.

However, I can see why people like it because even in 50 pages, there were tons of jokes. Like when a couple kids at school ask Nick to teach them kung fu, and he’s so desperate for friends that he says yes:

It was so simple. I slapped my forehead. Whoever had invented kung fu had to start from scratch. Same with tennis or making mittens. In order for something to exist, someone had to first create the process. I didn’t know kung fu, but neither did they. I would simply improvise my own version of martial arts. I would make it all up.

A tingling sensation formed at my fingertips. An imaginary warrior now stood before me. I watched in slow motion as the warrior tried to kick me. “Okay, now in the movies they block these kicks,” I whispered to myself. I made a swiping motion with my right hand. I made up rules, and to my surprise they made perfect sense. The key to blocking your opponent’s kick is to move faster than the kick itself.

Maybe I’ll pick this one up again sometime when I’m not in the mood for a plot-driven novel.

Your Turn: Should I have kept going? Or was I right to stop?

Note: As an aspiring author, I respect the extraordinary amount of effort that goes into writing a book. I did not write this review in order to be unfair or negative about the book. My goal is simply to articulate why the book wasn’t for me.

Title: Skunk Girl
Author: Sheba Karim
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Why I Read It: It released in 2009, and I was in the mood for something new.

Summary: 16-year-old Nina is a Muslim Pakistani-American. Her parents don’t let her date, but an Italian boy just moved to town and she can’t stop thinking about him.

Stopped on Page: 79
Why I Stopped: It was interesting to read about the Pakistani-American culture, but the main character never did anything. Other than making Rice Krispie treats for a bake sale, I can’t think of a single instance when she did anything besides go with the flow.

I also got a little tired of hearing her go on and on about the Italian boy she had a crush on, Asher.

Asher’s been here almost a week, but we haven’t spoken since his first day. He only nods his head at me whenever he sees me in the hall or in precalculus. This does not bother me. My love can feed on looks alone. What worth have words anyway?

Should I have kept going? Or was I right to stop?

Note: As an aspiring author, I respect the extraordinary amount of effort that goes into writing a book. I did not write this review in order to be unfair or negative about the book. My goal is simply to articulate why the book wasn’t for me.

Title: Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris
Author: R.L. LaFevers
Category: Fiction, Middle Grade
Why I Read It: I read the first in this series, Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Summary: 11-year-old Theodosia Throckmorton spends most of her time in an antiquities museum where her parents work. While they’re busy, she keeps herself entertained by saving the world.

Stopped on Page: 178
Why I Stopped: As much as I loved the first Theodosia book, I just never got into this story. A couple trivial things got to me, but I’m having a hard time pinpointing the bigger issues that made me stop. In general, the book didn’t feel lean and mean like the first one. Could it be that it was rushed to market without as much time spent in the editing phase?

So here are the trivial things I am able to articulate:

• Exclamations galore!—Honestly! It felt like they were on nearly every page. I mean, really!
• Too much internal monologue—Should I do this? Or should I do that? And if I do that, what will happen? So I’ve decided I’ll do this instead.

A quick example of the latter issue:

I would have to get word to Wigmere at once. And I needed to figure out what exactly it was that I’d discovered. Something that had power over the dead, that was clear. But what? And why? And how much power?

And what was I to do with the wretched staff in the meantime? If I took it with me, would the mummies follow me up the stairs?

I took three steps forward to test it. Sure enough, every single mummy shuffled along behind me.

I nearly burst into tears. What did it all mean? Had their ba, or souls, returned to their bodies? Were they merely reanimated, such as the zombies of western Africa? The enormity of what I didn’t know was staggering.

Should I have kept going? Or was I right to stop?

Note: As an aspiring author, I respect the extraordinary amount of effort that goes into writing a book. I did not write this review in order to be unfair or negative about the book. My goal is simply to articulate why the book wasn’t for me.

Title: The Fetch
Author: Laura Whitcomb
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Why I Read It: It released in 2009, and I was in the mood for something new.

Summary: Calder is a death escort who breaks his sacred vows to enter the body of a dying man.

Stopped on Page: 159
Why I Stopped: The subtitle on the cover is A Supernatural Romance. On page 159, I was still waiting for the romance to pick up in earnest, so I stopped.

Maybe if that subtitle hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have stopped. I generally don’t like to read more than a sentence or two about a book’s plot before I read the book myself. But in this case, I think reading a more thorough plot summary might have helped set my expectations.

Regardless of missed expectations, though, the book was a tad morbid for my taste.

Should I have kept going? Or was I right to stop?

Note: As an aspiring author, I respect the extraordinary amount of effort that goes into writing a book. I did not write this review in order to be unfair or negative about the book. My goal is simply to articulate why the book wasn’t for me.

Title: Beautiful Americans
Author: Lucy Silag
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Why I Read It: It released in 2009, and I was in the mood for something new.

Summary: Four American teens travel to Paris for a year-long study program.

Stopped on Page: 42
Why I Stopped: I lost patience with all the points of view in this book. The chapters alternate among each of the 4 main characters telling their story. I actually gave up before I got to the first chapter for the fourth character, but I wasn’t connecting with any of the other main characters.

Probably contributing to that lack of connection was that the dialogue sounded a little stilted to me. A small example:

“So, what’s your name, anyway?”

“Penelope Jane Fletcher,” she says, putting her passport on the counter so that the clerk can type in her name and information. “But you can call me PJ. Why are you doing this for me?”

I know it’s been a few years since my teenage days, but how PJ introduces herself struck me as not so realistic.

Should I have kept going? Or was I right to stop?

Note: As an aspiring author, I respect the extraordinary amount of effort that goes into writing a book. I did not write this review in order to be unfair or negative about the book. My goal is simply to articulate why the book wasn’t for me.