Weird is Good {Book List}

(This post contains affiliate links.)

Starting today, I'm going to be highlighting some of my favorite books, both those I read as a kid, and those I currently read and love. I'm going to be dividing them into categories, and we're going to start today with the category I don't have a name for. If you've read all the books on this list, you can probably figure out what I'm talking about.

I call these "weird books" for lack of a better term. They all have a fantasy aspect, and also a real life slant. They are probably my favorite books ever. They combine fantastic writing with unique characters and crazy worlds and plots. They are each unique in themselves, and that is really the main thing that ties them together.

1. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. This is probably my very favorite kids book of all time.



 2. The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. While I loved the whole series, I'm thinking more about the first book here, and not the whole thing.



3. The Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.



5. The Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix



7. His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman





These are some of my all time favorite books. As I look back on the list, I realize they are all kids books. There are some books by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett that probably belong on this list too (Good Omens, anyone?), since I really do love both of them, but I'm leaving them off for now.

So, looking at this list, what do you think the unifying themes are? What is it about these books that make me group them together? I'm honestly not completely sure myself, though I do see some themes of magic, fantasy, and dark themes. What do you think? Have you read these books? Do you like them?

Over the next month or two, I'm going to do a bunch more of these lists on different topics. Let me know if you have any I should cover. Some I'm planning on are:

History and Historical Fiction (this will be a long one!)
Classics
Sci-fi and Fantasy
Realistic Fiction

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell {book review}

Today I am reviewing Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. This book is by the same author as the rather controversial Eleanor and Park (read my review here, and my discussion of it's censorship here), but is, in my opinion, even better.

Summary
In Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life--and she's really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it's what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath's sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can't let go. She doesn't want to.
Now that they're going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn't want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She's got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can't stop worrying about her dad, who's loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

My Review
Wow, that was a really long plot summary (I just grabbed it off of the amazon page)! Let's start with the characters. This book had some really good, really complicated characters. Cath, Reagen, Levi, and eventually Wren, are all characters with multiple layers. You think you know them, and what they would do, and then you suddenly realize you don't. These characters were all great, and very human.

The plot was enjoyable. For a lot of the book I wasn't sure what direction it was heading. Was it going to be an Eleanor and Park like romance, an Ellen Hopkins like book about dealing with mental illness (I know that Rainbow Rowell and Ellen Hopkins aren't even slightly comparable, but I was thinking that it would end up being about how she gives up everything to take care of her dad and sister)? In the end, it didn't really fit any of the stereotypes. It made a new catergory, one without a name. One with fanfiction (an almost taboo topic in most teen lit), romance, difficult parental and sibling relationships, and other very real issues being dealt with be a very real teenage girl.

The writing was fantastic. I love Rainbow Rowell's writing. This was where I thought this book really surpassed Eleanor and Park. While the 1st person naration switching between characters is popular, and works fine, I liked that this book didn't do that. Having a third person book with is all on one character was a bit refreshing. It makes the book feel more personal. Also, one thing that people complain a lot about with Eleanor and Park is the swearing. There is a lot. While it didn't really bother me, I did sometimes feel that it was overused. I have no problem with well placed swear words intended to make a point, but an f-bomb every few lines can get annoying. This book really used swearing in a believable, efficient manner.

I think the reason I liked this book so much was because I related to Cath right off the bat, which rarely happens to me with teen books. While I don't have her family situation, I do have one that can feel very tricky to navigate at times. While I don't write fanfiction, I do read it (I used to read it all the time, but now I just read the one my friend writes, which I am in), and I understand the culture around it pretty well. Her fears, concerns, and anxiety about college, and relationships is something I can directly relate to. In some ways, I see my future self when I read this book.

Who Should Read It?
I'm going to give this book a very high recommendation. If you are into fanfiction, you should really read this book. There is mild swearing, some drinking, and some sex, so if that bothers you, be warned. It is all quite mild though, especially compared to several of the books I have reviewed on here recently, including other books by the same author.

I'm almost done with A Game of Thrones (finally!), so expect a review soon. I also just got Smoke, the new Ellen Hopkins book, from the library, and I am super excited. I first started reading her books right before Fallout came out, and since then, I am always looking forward to her next one! This is the sequel to Burned, which honestly I never expected to happen, so expect a review of that in the next few weeks. Also, I'll be posting a final NaNoprep post this weekend.

Sorry for the crazy long post! If you made it all this way, give me some book suggestions in the comments! What would you like me to review? If I've read it, I'll write something up, if I haven't, I'll put it on hold at the library.

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The Books that Made Me a Reader

I have read many, many books, but there are only a few that I can really say have made a big impact on me as a person, or as a reader, or even as a writer.

The first author I want to mention is Tamora Pierce. I distinctly remember being eight years old, and picking up Lady Knight from the paperback section of the Bellingham Public Library's children's section. While I didn't love that book (and it's the only book of her's I've never read since), I was interested enough to pick up Alanna: The First Adventure a week later. I was suddenly in love in a way I had never been before, and have rarely been since. Tamora Pierce's books (particularly the Alanna books, but her other ones too) had characters I could identify with. These books, unlike most books written for kids my age, were interesting. They had mystery, and danger. They had romance and death. Suddenly, reading wasn't a boring chore my mom made me do each day. It was suddenly my favorite part of each day.

Before long, I had read every book Tamora Pierce had ever written, so I started over again at the beginning. This was about the point at which I starting getting braver at the library and reading other books, but it was the start of a pattern for me. That was seven years ago now, and I've read hundreds and hundreds of books, but I always go back to Alanna. I've probably read Alanna: The First Adventure, and In The Hands of The Goddess a good twenty times a piece, and the rest her books (excluding Lady Knight, which I have only read that one time) at lease seven or eight times.

Sometimes I wonder where I would be if I had never found that book that Saturday afternoon at the library. Would I still be a big reader? So much good in my life comes from reading. Would any of that exist? Because of my love of reading and the library, I have a great volunteer position in that same children's library, and I have terrific relationships with many of the librarians who work there. My love of reading has also lead to a love of writing, which has lead me to participate in NaNoWriMo twice, and eventually start this blog. Where would I be without Tamora Pierce and the Bellingham Public Library?

Erebos - Ursula Poznanski

The book I am reviewing today is Erebos by Ursula Poznanski. I'm sorry if the link is a little odd. I recently joined the Amazon affiliate program (where I get a small cut if you buy something after clicking through from one of my posts), and I'm still getting the hang of it. While I usually do not give plot outlines of the books I review, this one is going to be an exception. Don't worry, there should not be any major spoilers, nothing more then you would find in the Amazon description. However, as usual, if you particularly hate spoilers, you should proceed with caution. 

This book is about a boy named Nick, who receives a copy of "Erebos," the video game that has been making the rounds at his school. He begins playing, and discovers a terrifying new world, governed by many strict rules. As time goes on, it becomes clear that the game is watching them. It begins manipulating their lives out side of the game, and eventually, things get dangerous.

Now, let's move on to the characters. I think the characters are the weak link here. Many of them were pretty one sided, with a few exceptions. While this is obviously not a great thing, I do not really count this as a big mark against the book.

Next, we are going to talk about the writing. I am not sure if it's really fair to say too much about this, since the copy I read was in English, not the original German. I know that a lot can be lost in translation, so I am not going to consider this part very strongly in my final rating. I would say that the writing was quite good, though it could have been better. What I am especially impressed by is the way she balances the two worlds of the game, and real life. Even without really being a gamer, I loved the parts in Erebos as much, or better, then I liked the real life sections. At some point about a third of the way through, I hardly noticed the difference between one and the other, which is terrific, because that was the same blurriness that Nick, the main character was beginning to experience.

Last is the plot. I LOVED IT. This is by far what is selling this book, as it rightly should. The story starts strong, and gets stronger. The ending is surprising, and satisfying. This book has action, and suspense, and a little romance (though this part was not very well developed, and did not make a lot of sense to me). It is scifi, fantasy (in that Erebos is a fantasy role playing game), and in the end, a bit of mainstream geek fiction. This book is something that I am sure all the gamers out there would love, but I did too. I am not a gamer, but I love scifi, nerdy stuff , and just the book in general. There is something that gets you creepily addicted to it, and when you get pulled away, you fell like you were just playing the game yourself and will lose a level if you don't get back in immediately!

The reason I did a little plot outline at the top of this post is to get you engaged. I really want people to read this book, and I am hoping that that will help. Read this book! It is fantastic! I don't think it has as much attention as it deserves, and I am doing what I can to resolve that.

Just so you know, when I rated this book on Shelfari, I gave it a full five stars. For reference, the only other books I have rated that highly are Paper Towns, East of Eden , and The Fault in Our Stars.