The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan

David Levithan has a way with words. I have felt that with every book of his I've read (which is really only 5, including this one, but still, it's the reason I fell in love with his books). He's amazing and brilliant and wonderful.
The Lover's Dictionary is a very brief book (I read it on my lunch hour & one 15 minute break) in which Levithan defines words that tell the story of a relationship. The entries are brief thoughts on a moment or relate an entire episode in their relationship. There's a quiet beauty to the entries, even the angry ones (which is interesting to see the anger pop out between different words, so you don't get the whole story at once), and Levithan brings you into this relationship and the mind of the narrator, and I found it very easy as a reader to identify with many of his entries.
I like how he had part of a conversation in one entry, then further on went back to that conversation, and included just a little more, enough to illustrate the word, teasing the reader to keep reading to find out the whole story. Like with all books that capture just moments of a character's life, The Lover's Dictionary has beautiful moments that build an image in your mind. The great thing about Levithan is that he does it with so few words. One of my favorites:

whet, v.
You kiss me when you get home, and when I kiss you back longer, harder, you say, "Later, dear. Later."

I simply love the image this creates in my mind with so few words. It's difficult to give a full description of the story of this book, but if you're patient, interested in words and imagery, pick up the book. It will not take very long to finish (or to suss out if you like it or not).

Carbon Diaries 2017 by Saci Lloyd

Remember what I said about Carbon Diaries 2015 being Life As We Knew It Lite? 2017 changes that. Dark, brutal, gruesome, confusing, frightening ... Laura Brown's world got crazier.
You would think about two years of carbon rationing the UK would have settled somewhat, people would be making do as best they could, and while that is happening, unrest, anger, fear, and discrimination are building, making the world scarier. Laura's trying to get through university, but protesting students are being arrested and beaten and kicked out of university, so she escapes to her parents' home (who moved outside of London) for the spring term and early summer.
The Dirty Angels (Laura's band) are still at it, though Adi is more interested in revolution and fighting than the band. So, Sam (one of Laura's classmates) ends up being a part of the band and when the Dirty Angels get to be part of a European tour, Sam comes with. But France, if possible, is in even more chaos than the UK and when the band is around on election day, a very right wing party is elected, and so the band splits to Italy.
Only to learn that Adi has malaria in Sicily. Laura goes. But it's not easy.
When the group finally makes it back to London, Laura agrees to settle into her university work (there are no jobs out there, so she might as well get an education) and playing with the band.
London explodes with frustration, aggravation, and protests. The army and the government are fighting their own people and after Laura and friends have been lying safely hidden at Kieran's, they decide it's time to be a part of the fight to stand up for what's wrong. It goes amazingly poorly.
Definitely darker than 2015--that book is more about the environment and the side effects of everything going wrong with carbon rationing, 2017 is about people who have finally had enough and want to change the government, which hasn't changed with the changing world. An intense story, and I'm glad that Laura made it out (for now) ok. Changed, but ok.

The Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd

We all know 1) I'm a sucker for books written in the diary format and 2) I'm a sucker for dystopian novels and so The Carbon Diaries 2015 was perfect fit.
The dystopia part wasn't a huge role, the book is meant to take place in modern Britain (and only a few years away from the present) but with a few quirks (or yet to happen events) thrown in. The Great Storm has left the global community thinking that maybe some changes need to be made to how people live.
The UK is the first to make changes by rationing carbon in January 2015. So Laura Brown keeps a diary of what's happening during the year, from the extreme snow to extreme rain to extreme drought (is there any other kind?) back to extreme rain. The weather is just one aspect of crazy during 2015 and Laura just wants everything to be "normal". She wants to play in her band the Dirty Angels, she wants to crush on the boy next door, she wants to pass her exams, she wants her older sister Kim to stop being an evil witch, and she just wants her parents to be normal.
The book reminded me of Susan Beth Pfeffer's Life as We Knew It: the world is going along happily until some extreme event knocks everything out of whack and it's the story of one teenager coping with the changes. Saci Lloyd leaves some humor in The Carbon Diaries 2015, which makes it not as intense as Pfeffer's books. Now the moon didn't get knocked closer to earth, it's just global warming (just? yikes), but the government's plan to put people on carbon rationing changes aspects of daily life: how much you can use the computer, watch TV, take hot showers, cook, all the basic stuff you take for granted. Lloyd does a good job of showing the activities that change that we normally wouldn't think about (Laura's mom can't drive her car as often, Kim is missing her gap year because it's too expensive to fly, students are re-thinking education and careers) and increasing the feeling of desperation that slowly rises amongst the family and the community at large. The snow is frightening (people dying from the cold, no food getting to the UK) and then it all melts and there's relief. The rain is intense (better than the snow) and goes on for days and days and days, and when the sun finally comes out, there's relief. The drought is frightening (people dying from the heat, the city turning off access to water), with no one thinking to save the rain that drenched the people in the spring, and when it finally rains there's relief. The relief is always short-lived because there's some other disaster that's coming closer.
It's amazing how "normal" Laura's life continues to be--she goes to school, plays with her band, fights with her parents, takes her exams, sleeps late on breaks--though cracks in the normalcy peer out from time to time, like when the school has an assembly on what to do during a riot. The diary format moves the book along at a quick and easy to read pace, Laura is a great character struggling with being a teenager and this great change occurring in the world at large. She's easy to relate to and Lloyd does a great job of making some of the usual stuff of teenage life remain "usual". It's a great book, especially for those not as interested in the intense world Pfeffer creates in her books. The Carbon Diaries 2015 is a good book to read after Pfeffer's books. You need a little hope somewhere.
I just started The Carbon Diaries 2017 and I'm interested to see where this one will take me ... check for a review soon!

Listening is an Act of Love edited by Dave Isay

My library decided to do a community reading program this year, and Listening is an Act of Love is the book chosen. Ever since I finished graduate school, I resist when I have to read something, so I'd been putting off reading the book for longer than I really should have.
That was totally a mistake.
The stories presented in Listening is an Act of Love are moving, descriptive, funny, endearing, and so very vivid. These aren't stories that authors have invented but actual interviews with average people, like you and me.
There's a man who worked as a school janitor for 15 years before going back to school to become a teacher (and teach at the school where he was a janitor!), a fantastic and beautifully described story of how steel is made, grandchildren interviewing grandparents, the story of a bus driver in New York, interviews with inmates in a state prison, stories of Hurricane Katrina and September 11th; each story was incredible. I haven't teared up so much in one book probably since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (but that was all out crying).
The StoryCorps Project is amazing in and of itself--its goal is to record these stories people have and to share them with another person, to always have a record of that story, to not fade away. Thinking that your life isn't story-worthy? Life is made up of moments, and that is what the StoryCorps records--moments in people's lives. The stories in Listening is an Act of Love are all moments in people's lives: a few hours, a day, a week. That's what life is made of: moments. The book has definitely encouraged me to ask more questions of my family, and just to hear moments in their lives.
Listening is an Act of Love is a quick read and really is, as the subtitle states: A Celebration of American Life from the StoryCorps Project. And we're very fortunate to be able to read these stories.

Sapphique by Catherine Fisher

This sequel to Incarceron is incredible.
I admit I was confused as the end came upon me, but I was so eager to reach the end, to devour the story, to find out just what would happen to Finn, Claudia, Attia, and Keiro. Is there a way to free the prisoners? Can Era be ended? Would Queen Sia be overthrown? Is Finn really Giles? I read Incarceron about six months ago, I think, and I do not really remember books, so I thought it was great that Fisher made it easy enough to remember what happened in the first book.
Finn is Outside with Claudia and Jared; the Warden (Claudia's father) is Inside with Attia and Keiro (but not in the same place). It's been two months and Finn is still having a difficult time calling up any memories prior to his imprisonment. Relations with the Queen are complicated; she wants to look like she supports Finn and truly believes he is her stepson, but she still thinks her son Caspar should be able to take the throne. Finn is not the ideal prince; he is having a difficult time being at ease with the court and the finery and trappings of luxury. He wants the Portal fixed so he can fulfill his promise to Keiro and Attia. Claudia had expected Finn's memory to return and his fits to end, but neither has happened. She begins to question if Finn is really Giles. With Jared, Claudia is doing her best to repair the damage done to the Portal when the Warden went Inside.
Attia and Keiro are searching for Sapphique's legendary glove, which will give the wearer the ability to Escape. Attia finds it with a magician in a traveling circus and when she steals it from Rix, she discovers her life has just gotten a little more complicated. When the Prison offers to make a deal with whoever has the glove, there's a race between the characters who know of its existence to find the heart of Incarceron to deliver it.
Meanwhile, Jared is offered the opportunity to find a cure for his sickness which would mean betraying Claudia. A Pretender has arrived in court claiming to be the real Giles--and having the ease, courtesy and attitude to carry it off.
The pace of the novel picks up after a fire in the palace and the narration switches between those Outside and those Inside swiftly. The quick pace of the novel leaves the reader eager to find out what happens next, but I felt I missed or didn't fully comprehend everything that I was reading. There are some great surprises (about the Era and Incarceron) in the book and it is a thrilling read right to the end.
The ending does feel a little abrupt; I thought there were going to be three books (it's probably from reading so many trilogies of late) to the story so when I got about two thirds of the way into the book and realized it was going to finish in this book, I was excited. I was a little disappointed at how quickly the book ended, though. I would have liked to see an epilogue or one short chapter taking place a few months later, but I suppose I am picky. The novel ended on some really great imagery though (and I teared up a little at the end).
All in all, Sapphique is a fantastic read. I recommend both books to readers(it will be much easier now to recommend them with both books out) who like action, dystopian fiction, very strong female characters, and not so much romance (but a little). It's an awesome story.

The Betrayal of Maggie Blair by Elizabeth Laird

Maggie Blair is a naive girl living with her grandmother on a small island off the coast of Scotland. Maggie's mother died after giving birth to Maggie, and her father died when she was still very young, so she has been living in a tiny cottage with her gruff grandmother ever since. Elspeth knows how to use herbs, is an excellent midwife, and uses charms to help people. Though more often than not, Elspeth ends up cursing people (just to try to scare them) to keep them away. In 17th century Scotland, however, curses and charms can get you accused of being a witch. Which is exactly what happens to Elspeth, and Maggie is swept up along in the imprisonment and trial of her grandmother. A nasty serving girl named Annie give testimony against Maggie, claiming Maggie practices witchcraft as well, which gets Maggie condemned along with her grandmother.
Maggie escapes (I won't tell you how) and manages to get to her father's brother's home on the mainland. Uncle Blair is married with four children, and a wonderful farm. Maggie feels a little out of place at first, but it grateful to have somewhere safe to be. Her uncle is a Covenanter, someone who believes the King of Scotland should not be the head of the church (as the King is in England) and this causes great turmoil in the area. Uncle Blair refuses to attend the village church because the minister has been chosen by the King. I feel that the idea of the Covenanters was not fully explained within the story (there is an afterword but it comes a little late). Uncle Blair believes so strongly in his beliefs that he is arrested and taken from his family (and the family's storeroom is sacked and ruined). Maggie feels guilty as there is so little food left to feed the family and decides to go in search of Uncle Blair. She has a companion on her journey north into Scotland who helps her make the journey. She finds Uncle Blair months later, imprisoned, and does not know how to help him. So she works. Maggie ends up relying on other people to make things happen--it's her grandmother who gets her out of the witch trial, her friend Tam who helps her north to find Uncle Blair, and a soldier to help Uncle Blair get home.
Maggie is constantly questioning her faith and whether or not she will end up going to heaven, should something happen to her during her adventures, and while that is a valid question for Maggie to ask (especially since she was not really raised with religion), when she asks it, the questions seem like afterthoughts, as if the author was reminded, oh, Maggie should be asking about her faith.
I like the adventure part of the story, I like Maggie searching for a new home, I like who she finds along the way, I think that's a clever way for the story to go. However, there is so much to the story, it feels stuffed full of plot, and when the end comes, it is tied up so quickly. I think the ending is a little unrealistic, but I appreciate the positive outcome for the "good" characters and the not so positive ending for the "bad" characters.
The Betrayal of Maggie Blair is an interesting story; Maggie is a naive character (which goes well with the time period the story is written in), the journey part of the story is gripping, and most of the other characters are well drawn. A book for older teen readers (patient older teen readers), Maggie's story is good for those interested in the drama Maggie goes through.

The Crepe Makers' Bond by Julia Crabtree

Ariel, M, and Nicki are best friends beginning eighth grade, excited about the upcoming school year and the time the trio will spend together. The book opens with the three in Ariel's family's kitchen and an earthquake rattles the walls and Ariel counts the changes in their lives from the earthquake, when their easy going friendships changed.
Ariel loves to cook and experiment in the kitchen and between each chapter is a recipe, one of the dishes that Ariel mentions in the story (either something she makes for her family, her friends, or a recipe discussed). While it is unique to the story, it also feels a little gimmicky; sometimes dishes are mentioned just to mention a dish and it does not flow well with the story.
M is on the shy side; her mother is agoraphobic and her parents divorced so M feels she spends a lot of time watching and helping out her mother. M and Ariel have been friends since they were very young, and Nicki only moved into the neighborhood a few years ago.
Nicki is bubbly and the peacemaker and has been distracted an odd of late. Ariel and M try to ask her what is bothering her but Nicki does not like to talk about herself and continually deflects the question. Crabtree does a good job of drawing out the suspense of Nicki's story but when her secret is revealed it is done at the last possible moment, feels rushed and an unimportant part of the story.
Not very long into the school year, M discovers her mother has a new job and they have to move. Ariel and M, to prevent M from leaving, come up with a brilliant idea: M should move in with Ariel's family for the rest of the school year so M can finish middle school with her friends and start fresh at her new high school. Amazingly, both sets of parents agree to this scheme and for the first few days or weeks (the timeline is not very clear) all goes well. Then it's small things that start to bother Ariel, and she confesses that she should have told M the problems to begin with, but does not.
The two finally have it out (leaving poor Nicki in the middle) and the consequences for the friendship are grave. But as most books written for the middle school level, it ends on a positive note for (almost) all the characters.
The Crepe Makers' Bond was a quick read and a good contemporary story; however the voices of the characters felt off, sometimes too old and at other times too young, some of the recipes forced, conclusions a little rushed. I think there will be a very small niche of readers interested in the recipes of the book; I don't know many middle school students who as often as Ariel does. It's a positive story about growing up and the changes that happen in friendships over the years.

Real Live Boyfriends by E. Lockhart

Oh, Ruby.
I was admittedly sad when I heard Real Live Boyfriends is the last Ruby Oliver book, but I loved it and I thought it was fantastic and a great way to end the series.
There is so much more to Ruby than boyfriends (past and present) and panic attacks. The book opens during the summer before Ruby's senior year at Tate Prep. She's dating the wonderful Noel (who is a Real Live Boyfriend; one who listens to her, calls her back, spends time with her, and doesn't make her completely insecure), enjoying spending time with Meghan and Hutch, and just loving summer.
Then things begin to go bad ... her grandmother dies (which sucks and destroys her dad), Noel goes to visit his brother Claude in New York City which he does every summer, but halfway through the trip Noel stops calling or emailing Ruby (and misses her birthday), and Hutch is leaving to spend the semester in Paris (heavy metal Hutch? In Paris?). And while some unexpected events occur (Nora approaches Ruby), the constants of school, working at the zoo, and Doctor Z don't change (nor does Ruby's clashing with her mother).
Noel and Ruby get in an argument (during a college prep class, unfortunately) and the relationship ends. Which makes neither happy, but when Ruby finds out that it's not that Noel doesn't love her, but something else entirely, the relationship gets back on track. Ruby realizes that her relationships with everyone will change in the next few years, going to college has a tendency to do that to people. But Ruby also realizes that she has the ability to deal with that, and if it gets too tough, she has people to help her out. And of course, her lists.
Real Live Boyfriends *Yes, boyfriends, plural. if my life weren't complicated--I wouldn't be Ruby Oliver is a quick read; it's a lot like Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicholson series in that the book focuses on Ruby and her friends but it feels that Ruby learns a little more about herself in her stories than Georgia does in hers. The Ruby Oliver series are the types of books that don't make huge, grand statements about humanity or growing up, but just tell a story about being a teenager and how sometimes it's hard to navigate being a teenager. I love the Ruby Oliver series and though I'm sad it's ended, I know that Ruby's heading in the right direction (even if she doesn't know what direction that is).

The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell

Amelia is looking forward to a summer in the city of Baltimore, far from her tiny home of Broken Tooth, Maine. Staying with relatives, it is the goal of Amelia's summer to come away engaged to a young man (or such is her brother's goal in sending her there). In 1889, Amelia knows there are few options open to her besides marriage, and so goes with the excitement of a trip before her, and summer away from her father and sister-in-law (her parents being dead).
Amelia finds a great friend in her cousin Zora, who has a bit of a mind for trouble as well. The two finish school and then the real joy of the summer begins; two young women, free from classes, looking forward to their futures.
Zora is excessively fond of Thomas Rea, the doctor's son, and knows that she and Thomas cannot marry until he is finished with school, for he must have a way to support a wife. Amelia is immediately taken with a Fourteenth (a young man hired to make a dinner table sit 14 instead of an unlucky 13), Nathaniel Witherspoon, starving artist. It is not the match Amelia is expected to make. Stolen moments throughout the summer, however, bring the two closer together.
Sounds like just another period young adult romance, no? It's definitely more.
The book opens with Amelia being locked in the attic of her brother's house in Maine in the fall of 1889, after her trip to Baltimore. She reveals dark details of why she has been locked up, why she was sent away from Baltimore, and the agony Amelia is living in, trapped.
Mitchell then flashes back to the summer of 1889 and Amelia's arrival and introduction to the family she will be living with. Witty remarks endear Amelia to Zora immediately, and not long after Amelia arrives, she has the strangest vision as she stares into the sunset from the parlor, a vision of Zora & Thomas dancing together. When this comes true, Amelia confesses to Zora and the two begin sharing Amelia's abilities with their friends. Once the word spreads, a number of young women are clamoring for Amelia to tell their futures.
It's fun, at first, but then Amelia begins to see darker futures, mundane futures, and when she starts writing down what she sees, she dreads the visions. Once, she thinks she is able to avert tragedy, but it can never be so easy as that, as Amelia reminds us when she cuts back in from the present.
Nathaniel is not quite what he seems either, able to seemingly suddenly appear when Amelia thinks of him, calls to him. He is mysterious and entirely inappropriate for her, but the two appeal to each other more than either can explain.
When the first tragedy strikes, Amelia is shocked, as it's a future she thought she had prevented. The trouble is, Amelia could not see how this one future plays into the rest of the futures surrounding her and her world begins to tumble down. The sad events happen quickly and discover why Amelia is sent home.
The story, beginning with Amelia in Maine after the events have taken place, leave the reader constantly wondering just what happened to have her returned home, and ruined. It is an easy story to read, one that keeps the reader intrigued and involved, and the sad Gothic nature of it make the reader wish for a happy ending. A different than expected ending occurs, one that works well with my reading tastes. All in all, The Vespertine is a book I would recommend to young adult readers who like historical fiction and a bit of supernatural. It reminded me a little of Libba Bray's A Great & Terrible Beauty, but The Vespertine does not delve as much into the supernatural world as Bray's trilogy. A worthwhile story that leaves the reader with chills.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Due out in February 2011, Lauren Oliver's Delirium is Ally Condie's Matched mixed with Scott Westerfeld's Uglies. Being a fan of both those books, I am a fan of Oliver's Delirium as well.
In Lena's gated city of Portland, love is a disease, one for which there is a cure, and you must be 18 before you can have the cure. Lena is closing in on her 18th birthday (95 days, she tells herself), prepared to be free from the worries of love--after all, it took her mother. Lena's mother had the procedure 3 times and each time it failed and when the regulators came to take her for the 4th time, she killed herself instead. Lena's father died when she was just a baby, so from 6 years old on, Lena lived with her aunt and uncle, trying to live down the fact that her mother had the disease and had it so badly she was willing to take her own life.
Love is even given a scientific, scary name: amor deliria nervosa, and Lena is as frightened of it as she is about everything else. Her best friend Hana is outgoing, vivacious, beautiful, and only recently beginning to show signs that she is not looking forward to her cure. Knowing the cure will change both girls so much that they will not have the same deep abiding affection for each once they have the cure, Lena still longs for it. The end of their friendship is coming and that makes for arguments and awkward conversations.
Lena meets a boy (as always) who is so different from other boys. He has been cured, so it is all right for Lena to spend some time with him. He reveals a secret that Lena is not prepared for and runs from him, only to realize that she can't stay away, doesn't want to stay away from him. Alex opens her eyes to the world beyond Portland's borders, the forbidden Wilds, where the Invalids live (the people who refuse to have the cure), to thinking beyond what she's always blindly accepted, to realize that so much of her life has included lies.
Delirium is a compelling story, swiftly paced (especially towards the end), prodding readers to not so blindly accept everything they're told, but to look into the truth, to learn for themselves. Oliver does a great job of showing how a friendship can change and deteriorate after so many years of friendship, that it's part of growing up and coming to terms with who each of you are. I really appreciated that about the story, as it's something that happens frequently to teenagers of that age, about to embark on a new part of life. Oliver's writing is natural, and Lena's distress and restlessness grow with her new found understanding of the society she lives in. The book is definitely left open for a sequel, and I hope Oliver writes one. (And I hope that something that appears very bad is not bad in the sequel, but I think I'm dreaming.) Definitely enjoyed the book, but then I'm a fan of the dystopia/awkward future genre.
Delirium is set to be released February 1, 2011.