Title: The Spectacular Now
Author: Tim Tharp
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 3.5/5
Summary: It’s senior year, and Sutter Keely is living large with a beautiful girlfriend and an endless supply of whiskey. His girlfriend wants him to do something he can’t quite remember, but why worry about that when you can live in the now?

Review: Sutter’s charm is simultaneously entertaining and heartbreaking. You get the feeling that it’s a front for something, which of course it is.

This is not a feel-good story, but it is a real story. A real snapshot into the life of a young man who drinks morning, noon, and night. Because if he drinks, he can be the life of the party and live in the moment. And if he can live in the moment, he doesn’t have to think about his past or his future.

Borrow: Your local library | Swap
Buy: Your local bookstore | Powell’s | Amazon

You can now use the Skribit widget in the sidebar to make a suggestion for what I should read next. Or you can just vote on what others have already suggested.

Every other book I read will be an audience pick, as long as the library hold timing cooperates.

You could suggest:

• One of your favorite YA books
• A book that just sounds cool
• A book you’re not sure about (I don’t mind doing the recon work!)

No matter what you suggest, I’ll go with the top vote-getter for every other book I start!

Photo by erin MC hammer.

Title: So Yesterday
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 3.5/5
Summary: 17-year-old Hunter Braque is a cool hunter who gets the find of his life when he meets a trend-setter named Jen. But then Hunter’s boss disappears, and the world of hunting cool doesn’t seem quite so cool anymore.

Review: This book reminded me a lot of Feed, which is an all-time YA favorite of mine. I prefer Feed—it explores these consumerist culture themes at their outer limits. But this book was still a great read.

The blend of internal and external conflict made for a rich story. And I also got a kick out of the random historical facts peppered throughout. (Did you know the whole “6 degrees of separation” thing was tested, and it worked? Check out page 148.)

However, I found myself wanting more exploration of the consumerist themes, especially when it comes to the Jammers. The ending felt a little like a set-up for a sequel, but this book has been out a few years now so this is probably it.

If you know of any other books like this or Feed, please let me know because I love books on this topic!

Borrow: Your local library | Swap
Buy: Your local bookstore | Powell’s | Amazon

Title: Tender Morsels
Author: Margo Lanagan
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 3/5
Summary: Liga Longfield has been through hell. So when she stumbles upon her own personal heaven, she doesn’t ask questions. But her heaven isn’t as isolated as she thought. Will she have to face her hell again?

Review: This Printz Honor Book is not for the squeamish. I didn’t read much about the book before starting it, and the cover led me to believe it was going to be fairy tale-ish.

It does contain magic, but this book also deals with some pretty heavy topics. Incest, rape—happy little things like that. Don’t get me wrong—my top 10 list of YA books is not all rainbows and fluffy bunnies. I was just a little taken aback at the start of this book, and I thought I should give you a heads up in case you’re really not into that sort of thing.

Things I loved about this book:

• The language. Unique, gorgeous. When I saw that the author is a poet, I was not surprised.
• The world. (Or I guess I should say worlds.) A seamless combination of magic and reality.

Things I didn’t love about this book:

• Point of view changes. Too many for my taste. I found it distracting, especially later on as more characters come into play. And I’m not sure I get the decision to use first person for the male characters, even the not-so-great ones. Why would you want to foster intimacy between those nasties and the reader?
• Too long. After about halfway through, I got impatient for where the plot was headed. I just wanted to get there, already.
• Adverbs, adverbs everywhere. Petty, I know, but they’re really getting on my nerves lately!

Borrow: Your local library | Swap
Buy: Your local bookstore | Powell’s | Amazon

I love writing book reviews. They help me:

• Look smart. I mean, look at how much I read! I must be smart.
• Learn from others. Articulating what I do and don’t like in a book will help me revise my own novel, if I ever get off my ass to do such a thing.
• Practice writing. I haven’t touched my novel since the last day of NaNoWriMo 2008, so I have to do something to keep my fingers limber.

But I’ve started to wonder: Do others get as much out of my reviews as I do? And what, exactly, are they reading for? So tell me…

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Photo by smittenkittenoriginals.