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Posts Tagged ‘Funny’

The Inexplicable Logic of my Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Posted in reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 25, 2017| Leave a Comment »

The Inexplicable Logic of My LifeThe Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh wow! Reading this was like being on a rollercoaster of emotions. Such beautiful writing that had me connected and a part of the story and loving the characters, and then all of sudden having that feeling of a block of cement in my stomach while my heart broke a little with the tragedies that were unfolding.
I absolutely loved Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s ‘Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe’ and I had high expectations of this one. And while the writing was beautiful, it did take me a little while to get right into the story and realise what it was all about.
Sally (Salvador) was a strong character who just about always did the right thing and because of this, it was a little heartbreaking to see him struggle with his identity and where he fit in.
Samantha and Frito, Sally’s two friends were fantastic characters, each having their own demons to battle but in the end, this group of three friends had such a strong relationship it was hard to think of anything stopping them.
And the basis of their strong relationship was Sally’s father, Vicente. Yes, he wasn’t perfect but he came damn near close to being. How could anyone not be positively impacted by him.
Overall, this was a perfect read, it left me feeling differently about the world and also left me feeling love and hope.

Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Book Group for the ARC via NetGalley

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Past Perfect by Leila Sales

Posted in reviews, tagged , on April 9, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Past PerfectPast Perfect by Leila Sales
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oh my, what a delightful, enjoyable, fun easy to read book! I wanted something nice and light to read and this was exactly what I was looking for. I got so caught up in the story that I could barely put it down. The story was set around a community of ‘re-enactments/re-enactors’, tourist destinations that reenact important times and places of the past eg. the US Civil War. There are two very similar ‘re-enactment villages’ that are basically across the road from each other the teenagers that work in each, conduct a very real war each summer. Stunts like placing telephones strategically around the village (because these telephones didn’t exist back in 1770), or sticking confederate flags on peoples windscreens – stunts like these were pulled by kids from each side and if things got a bit out of control, the two groups met for war council, at the local ice-cream shop. I smiled and laughed and giggled at the malarky!!

But there was also a bit of a serious side. Girls, realising that they are trying to be someone else just to be the person they think their boyfriend wants, friends best friends being honest with each other, teenagers just trying to find their place. The author captures the teen voice extremely well and has developed some strong characters. I found myself just wanting to go and get a job at the re-enactment village and hang out with Chelsea and Fiona (who on a side note have decided to also become ice-cream connoisseurs and are working their way through every imaginable flavour of ice-cream!!).

And lastly… Dan. Oh Dan. What a sweet, funny, slightly damaged swoon-worthy boy you turned out to be. Even though you are fighting on the wrong side of the war.

Quotes:

“Also, he was kind of cute. Not really, of course, since he was the enemy, and the enemy cannot possibly be cute. He was only cute enough to make me wish I could free my hands so that I could fix my hair. I mean, fix my hair, then punch him in the face, and then run.” – said by Chelsea

…………………………………..

“My enemy is actually my friend if I have another enemy who is also the enemy of my first enemy.” – said by Fiona

………………………………….

“Don’t get me wrong, I love my parents and all. But my father and I have the sort of loving relationship in which, whenever he says more than one sentence in a a row to me, I want to stab myself in the heart with a a recently formed silver knife.” – said by Chelsea

………………………………….

“We shouldn’t be doing this.” Dan broke the silence, his voice low. “We would both get in trouble.” He stood up. “Let’s go back.”

“We shouldn’t be doing what?” I scrambled to my feet. “What exactly are we doing?”

“This.”

“You mean consorting?”

“Sure, consorting. Cavorting. Carousing.” He paused to take a deep breath.

“Kissing.” Then he leaned in and pressed his mouth to mine.” – said by Dan and Chelsea

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Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Posted in reviews, tagged , , on February 25, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Me and Earl and the Dying GirlMe and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was awesome! I think I had a cheesy grin on my face for 99% of the time as I was reading it. I really loved the style of writing, the main character, Greg Gaines, is basically writing this story for us, the reader, although Greg thinks that if anyone actually reads his whole story then there must be something wrong them (although Greg uses more explicit words in his descriptions!). So, the story is written exactly as though Greg is talking to us and what he is saying most of the time is hilarious. I thought it was going to be a tear-jerker because of the whole, ‘dying girl’, part but it wasn’t. I did get a little misty eyed towards the end but there was no sobbing involved. Greg has a certain outlook on life and he has set up his own guidelines for how to make it through high school, for flying under the radar and not getting attached to any of the school cliques. And yes, he seems to have perfected these guidelines. His interactions with his parents were also very funny, as were his stories about his attempts at flirting. His film making endeavors with his buddy Earl made me chuckle and when he starting spending time with Rachel again, those conversations made me smile. In short, I was basically either smiling, giggling, chuckling or laughing out loud reading this books. If you want a feel good book which about a boy who falls in love with a girl dying of cancer and they get through it, or an emotional roller coaster book about a boy who falls in love with a girl dying of cancer and then has to cope when she does die…then don’t read this! This one is for someone who wants a laugh, who can see the funny side of things and for someone who doesn’t mind a bit of the F word! I did learn two new words from reading this: F&#K biscuit and F%$K burger…basically just adding any type of food after the F word!

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Book received from NetGalley

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The Future of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler

Posted in reviews, tagged , , on January 9, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The Future of UsThe Future of Us by Jay Asher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had a great time with this book, maybe because I was a teenager in the 90’s and so a lot of things were just like my own memories! Emma and Josh made me laugh out loud. If you are old enough, imagine it is 1996. You have a computer with windows 95 on it and there is that screen saver of the brick wall maze thing or the pipes (it is all coming back!). Emma is connecting to the Internet for the first time and all of a sudden Facebook appears, except Facebook was actually around back then and so Emma is looking at Facebook 15 years in the future. She gets her friend Josh involved and as they sit there reading through Facebook comments and likes and pokes they are not too sure what is going on. I loved it when after reading comments by Emma about what she was cooking for dinner, about getting a haircut, about seeing a therapist, that Josh is sure it is all a prank. He says something like, ‘Why would people write these crazy things about themselves on the Internet… ‘

There really were two parts to this story, one was the comical, OMG-that-is-my-future part where Emma keeps on trying to change things so she gets a better husband and is happy, but the other part of the story is about Emma and Josh’s friendship and how it got a bit broken but also about how they can fix it.

This was a mixed bag for me, laughing out loud one minute, feeling sad the next minute, wanting to give Emma a bit of a shake to tell her to wake up to herself and then also feeling all warm and fuzzy.

It did leave me thinking though…. I wonder how much we can change the future by doing things just a little bit different now..and also…. What kind of stuff do I put on Facebook!!

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