Latest Read: Warm Bodies

Publisher Summary:
R is a young man with an existential crisis--he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams.

After experiencing a teenage boy's memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with the victim's human girlfriend. Julie is a blast of color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that surrounds R. His decision to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world. 

Scary, funny, and surprisingly poignant, Warm Bodies is about being alive, being dead, and the blurry line in between.

My thoughts:
This oddly poetic story about a dystopian world filled with zombies was such a unique book.  I know that neither dystopian novels nor tales of zombies are new to the literary scene...but this book does something different than others that have come before it.  I don't want to go into too much detail about that because I'm afraid I'd spoil the novel.  Let me just say that the book allows you to strongly empathize with a zombie (and even care for him).  Also, the message of the book is quite beautiful.  Check out this little passage:

"'Everything dies eventually.  We all know that.  People, cities, whole civilizations.  Nothing lasts.  So if existence was just binary, dead or alive, here or not here, what would be the f*ing point in anything?'  She looks up at some falling leaves and puts out her hand to catch one, a flaming red maple.  'My mom used to say that's why we have memory.  And the opposite of memory--hope.  So that things that are gone can still matter.  So we can build off our pasts and make futures.'" -pg. 115

My only qualm (if I'm being super-persnickity) is that the ending seems to be a bit oversimplified or, um, vague.  I wouldn't have minded a bit more explanation of the conclusion (I can't say about what without spoiling...so I'll just leave it at that).  Really though, this barely bothered me...I'm just nit-picking.  I've read several rave reviews on the blogosphere about this book - which is the reason why I picked it up (I'll add links to their reviews at the bottom of this post).  I think that most people will find that they really enjoy this book.  As I said, it's not a typical read and even those that don't like zombie books will find themselves recommending it to others.  So, final word...go check out this book!

4.5/5 stars


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Missy's Reads and Reviews

Friday Finds: Eclectic

Friday Finds is hosted by Should Be Reading and allows readers to showcase books they have discovered over the past week.  This week my finds are a bit eclectic, one non-fiction goodie and one lovely graphic novel!

First up, No More Dirty Looks by Siobhan O’Connor and Alexandra Spunt:

Publisher Summary:
It started with a harmless quest for perfect wash-and-go hair. Every girl wants it, and Siobhan O’Connor and Alexandra Spunt finally found it in a fancy salon treatment. They were thrilled—until they discovered that the magic ingredient was formaldehyde.


Shocked, O’Connor and Spunt left no bottle unturned. If it went on their body (and thus, was absorbed into their skin and bloodstream), they researched it. As it turns out, many of those unpronounceable ingredients in your self-tanner and leave-in conditioner are not regulated and the “natural” on your face wash doesn’t mean what you think it does.

Now, with the help of top scientists, dermatologists, and makeup artists, the authors share their compelling findings and the easy way to detoxify your beauty regimen. No More Dirty Looks also reveals the safest, most effective products on the market and time-tested home recipes. Finally, you don’t need to sacrifice health for beauty—because coming clean is the best look yet.





I also found out about Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol:

Publisher Summary:
Of all the things Anya expected to find at the bottom of an old well, a new friend was not one of them. Especially not a new friend who’s been dead for a century. 

Falling down a well is bad enough, but Anya’s normal life might actually be worse. She’s embarrassed by her family, self-conscious about her body, and she’s pretty much given up on fitting in at school. A new friend—even a ghost—is just what she needs.

But her new BFF isn’t kidding about the “Forever” part . . . 

Spooky, sardonic, and secretly sincere, Anya’s Ghost is a wonderfully entertaining debut from author/artist Vera Brosgol.

TGIF!

First up, the Book Blogger Hop hosted by Crazy-For-Books.com.  Click on the icon above to be taken to a list of book blogs...it's enjoyable to peruse and you may just find a couple of fun blogs to follow!

"What book-to-movie adaption have you most liked?  Which have you disliked?"
Hmm...it's really hard to think of a book-to-movie adaptation that I've actually liked.  If I give myself enough time between when I read a book and when I watch the movie adaptation I tend to like the movies a bit better.  This is probably because details of the book have faded - so what Hollywood has left out is not as glaringly obvious.
 

Most liked: I suppose it would be the Lord of the Rings movies and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.  The movie was very well done and kept closely to the spirit of the book - great acting too.

Most disliked: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman.  I knew this one was going to be bad before it even came out...but, it was even worse than I thought it would be!







Also, Happy Follow Friday!  Again click on the pic to be taken to a whole slew of new book blogs.  The question of the day:

Q. How many books do you read in a week? And in what format do you read them, or listen to them?

 Welp, it really depends on how much free time I have in a week.  Generally, I average about 3 books per week.  I'm not a big audio book person.  I never drive anywhere so I don't know when I would get the chance to listen to them!  Mostly, I read in print format but I do also read ebooks here and there (probably 1 ebook for every 3 print books).

Booking Through Thursday: Rut

Do you ever feel like you’re in a reading rut? That you don’t read enough variety? That you need to branch out, spread your literary wings and explore other genres, flavors, styles?

Actually, I was just thinking that very thing this morning.  I decided I need to take a little break from the paranormal/supernatural stuff.  I just finished City of Bones and while I enjoyed it immensely...I thought I would like it a bit more.  After pondering that for a minute I realized that the reason for any dissatisfaction with the book is that I'm just burned out on the whole vampire, demon, werewolf thing.  I've read a number of books this year with these supernatural elements and it's become rather tired for me.  I read a variety of books from all sorts of genres so ignoring the supernatural bit for awhile will be no problem.  Has anyone else read to much of a certain genre and grown tired of it?

Library Loot: May 25-31

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Marg (Reading Adventures) and Claire (The Captive Reader) that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

This week I have four little lovelies that I snatched from the local lib:

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion...I heard so many great things about this one on the blogosphere that I just had to check it out!

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn...this one's been sitting on my TBR for awhile and when I saw there was no wait (there's a lot of readers in my community) I decided to snatch it up while I had the chance.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare...since Mortal Instruments is the big-time YA trilogy of the moment I thought I'd check it out :)

The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough...I already finished this one earlier this week and my thoughts were...meh.  Not a big fan.  I checked this one out because I heard it was based on The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery which I enjoyed as a cozy little read.  Unfortunately, this one was nowhere near as good.  Oh well!

Waiting on Wednesday: The Night Circus

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that showcases upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week I find myself yearning for the release of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.

How neat is this book cover?!

Publisher Summary:

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart. 

Sounds like the Hunger Games meets The Prestige, no?  Can't wait for this sucker to come out in September!

Splash Into Summer Giveaway Hop

I'm taking part in the Splash Into Summer Giveaway Hop hosted by I am a Reader, Not a Writer and Page Turners.  Here on No Page Left Behind, the prize at stake is a Penguin Classics hardcover edition of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass - a gorgeous addition to any home library!  To enter this giveaway the only requirement is to fill out the form with your name, address and email.  If you follow this blog another way: twitter, facebook, or via a GFC/email/RSS subscription you will get another (+1) extra entry for each way you follow.  Up to 3 extra entries!

 Winner will be chosen at random using random.org (must live in the US) - good luck!  I will announce the winner on June 1st.  For a chance to win other goodies check out the blogs listed on the linky at the bottom of the post.

ENDED

Teaser Tuesday: Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading where you share a random snippet of your latest book.

This week, my teaser is from Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan:

"When I was little, my dad used to tell me 'Will, you can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose.'  This seemed like a reasonably astute observation to me when I was eight, but it turns out to be incorrect on a few levels." -- pg. 3

I just had to share the opening bit because it's so much fun (although the book thus far has also been exceedingly fun).  Don't you want to find out why this maxim doesn't hold true for the narrator? You hope it has nothing to do with nose-picking - and thankfully, it does not.    

Happy reading folks!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? & Mailbox Monday

 

Hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.  We share books that we've read over the past week and those we hope to read this week. 

Last week:

Again, I didn't accomplish as much reading as I'd like - sometimes life just gets in the way!  I squeezed in some time for:

• Heads You Lose by Lisa Lutz and David Hayward (so funny)
• Attachments by Rainbow Rowell (such a cute lil' rom-com)

This week: 

 I'm hoping I'll read around 4 books or so...especially since I'll be spending the holiday weekend at home!  I'd like to finish:

• Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
• The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy
• The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti
• Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

Mailbox Monday is a touring meme where book bloggers share their bookish acquisitions from the week prior.  It is hosted this month by MariReads.

This week I acquired two lovely book series:

First up, I decided I really needed to own Mary Stewart's Merlin series.  I now have The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment, and The Wicked Day sitting pretty on my shelves!

I also figured that I really should have one of my most favorite YA series on hand for rereading...so I bought the paperback boxset of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy!

So pretty, right?!

Hop Alongs and Follows :)

First up, the Book Blogger Hop hosted by Crazy-For-Books.com.  Click on the icon above to be taken to a list of book blogs...it's enjoyable to peruse and you may just find a couple of fun blogs to follow!

"If you were given the chance to spend one day in a fictional world (from a book), which book would it be from and what would that place be?"
Wow, what a question!  I'm not sure I can choose just one.  My initial thought is to go with a fantasy pick...why stay in the regular ol' world, right? :)

An obvious choice would be to spend a day in Narnia.  Who wouldn't love that?  But maybe I'll choose Philip Pullman's Dark Materials series so I could see what kind of daemon I would have!  No, actually, I think I would pick to live in Sarah Addison Allen's enchanting The Girl Who Chased the Moon  - Mullaby, NC.  I can see the quaint Southern streets in my mind's eye and taste the humid air laced with magic!  Yes, I would love to spend a day there (especially to stop and see the miraculously changing wallpaper and taste one of Julia's sweet confections).




Also, Happy Follow Friday!  Again click on the pic to be taken to a whole slew of new book blogs.  The question of the day:

Q. It's circle time. Time for us to open up and share. Can you tell us FIVE quirky habits or things about you? We all have them...

 Hmmm...okay, here's my five:

1. I hate orange juice, ketchup, BBQ sauce and I don’t really like brownies, chocolate cake or chocolate chip cookies…weird, I know.
2. I cry in movies all the time.  Once, I even cried during the previews.
3. My feet are ridiculously accident-prone. A piece of wood floor splintered into my foot while I was sliding across the floor (let this be a cautionary tale to all you floor-sliders). I have also stepped on a thorn, a nail, and a sewing needle.
4. Halloween is my ultimate favorite holiday. I love coming up with and wearing costumes – in recent years I have been Ace Ventura, a Freudian slip, Peg Bundy, and a garden gnome.
5. When I was growing up there were these little moths that covered the fields by my house, I discovered that if you smashed them between your hands they turned into gold shimmery glitter. I thought this was fairy dust and chased these poor moths around so I could use their magic to help me fly – the flying thing never did happen for me  :) 

Friday Finds: YA goodies

Friday Finds is hosted by Should Be Reading and allows readers to showcase books they have discovered over the past week.  This week, both of my finds are YA novels:

Sabriel (and the rest of the Abhorsen trilogy) by Garth Nix

Publishers Weekly blurb:
Sabriel is her last year at Wyverley College, a private school in Ancelstierre, where Magic does not work, but near the Border with the Old Kingdom, where it does. She and her father are also highly skilled necromancers, who fight the dead who seek to return to Life. But when her father is somehow trapped in Death, she must journey into the Old Kingdom to find him. She does not know that it is wracked by struggle (like that in Ursula LeGuin's The Farthest Shore)-a magician has brought chaos by refusing to die and hopes to use Sabriel and her father to further consolidate his power. Sabriel goes on a long journey throughout a densely imagined world, learning as she goes, and meeting such strange characters as Mogget, a raging natural force contained in the shape of a cat. She also develops a relationship with Touchstone, a young man who turns out to be as crucially involved as she is. 

Although Sabriel is possessed of much heavy knowledge ("A year ago, I turned the final page of The Book of the Dead. I don't feel young any more"), she is still a teenager and vulnerable where her father and love for Touchstone are concerned, making her a sympathetic heroine. Rich, complex, involving, hard to put down, this first novel, an Australian import, is excellent high fantasy. The suitably climactic ending leaves no loose ends, but readers will hope for a sequel.


The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman

Goodreads summary:
From New York Times bestselling author Allegra Goodman comes a post apocalyptic novel about love, loss, and the power of human choice. 

Honor and her parents have been reassigned to live on Island 365 in the Tranquil Sea. Life is peaceful there—the color of the sky is regulated by Earth Mother, a corporation that controls New Weather, and it almost never rains. Everyone fits into their rightful and predictable place. . . .

Except Honor. She doesn’t fit in, but then she meets Helix, a boy with a big heart and a keen sense for the world around them. Slowly, Honor and Helix begin to uncover a terrible truth about life on the Island: Sooner or later, those who are unpredictable disappear . . . and they don’t ever come back.

Latest Read: Heads You Lose

Publisher Summary:
Meet Paul and Lacey Hansen: orphaned, pot-growing twentysomething siblings eking out a living in rural Northern California. When a headless corpse appears on their property, they can't exactly dial 911, so they move the body and wait for the police to find it. Instead, the corpse reappears, a few days riper . . . and an amateur sleuth is born. Make that two.

When collaborators Lutz and Hayward (former romantic partners) start to disagree about how the story should unfold, the body count rises, victims and suspects alike develop surprising characteristics (meet Brandy Chester, the stripper with the Mensa IQ), and sibling rivalry reaches homicidal intensity. Think Adaptation crossed with Weeds. Will the authors solve the mystery without killing each other first?

What a unique little gem of a book!  This novel was extremely playful with its language and it seriously augmented my vocabulary.  I didn't even know some of these words existed before reading them (mostly in David Hayward's chapters) - for example: caliginous (misty, dim; obscure, dark) and asperous (rough; uneven).  There were hilarious messages between the authors separating the chapters.  They were honestly my favorite parts of the book...personal anecdotes that eventually erode into bitter (and funny) banter.  After Lisa's many complaints over David's pretentious vocabulary choices he cleverly disrespects her in Chapter 14...I literally laughed out loud. Also, there are footnotes throughout the story (inserted by the other co-author) that kept me snorting with amusement. Such a fun and quirky book!  To get an idea of the authors' relationship check out this fun little interview:



4.5/5 stars

Library Loot: May 18-24

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Marg (Reading Adventures) and Claire (The Captive Reader) that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

This week I have three little lovelies that I snatched from the local lib:

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell (a quirky modern rom-com),

A bit of magic with The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti,

and some steampunk fun with the second installment of the Parasol Protectorate - Changeless by Gail Carriger

Waiting On Wednesday: The Taker

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that showcases upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm pining after The Taker by Alma Katsu.  I've heard so many great things about this novel from other book blogs (it's already released in the UK) and I can't wait to get my hands on this sucker!  The Taker won't be released in the US until September 6th so, unfortunately, there's still quite of bit of time left to wait for this book.

Goodreads synopsis:
Described as an "epic supernatural romance," The TAKER combines historical fiction with a supernatural element for a dark romantic story that's "astonishing... heartbreaking and magical."

In the novel, set in the 19th century, a girl from northern Maine falls for and gets impregnated by a wealthy local out of her social league. When she flees to Boston to have the baby, she gets swept up by a group of immortal beings, and a tricky love triangle develops after the leader of the undying crew falls for her and gives her everlasting life.

Sounds neato, right?!

Teaser Tuesday: Heads You Lose

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading where you share a random snippet of your latest book.

My teaser from Heads You Lose by Lisa Lutz and David Hayward is from the email correspondence sandwiched in between each of the chapters.  While essentially this is a whodunit murder mystery (albeit an unconventional one), a lot of the most interesting and amusing moments come from the banter between the co-authors (who happen to be ex-lovers):

"Thank you for your generous offer of help.  But keep in mind that it's still early.  Try to be patient.  I'm reminded of all the weak lukewarm tea you've served me because you couldn't wait for the water to boil." pg. 44