An Open Letter to Candy Crush

Dear Candy Crush,

I was perfectly fine.  I was spending time with Boy and Girl Children.  I was reading.  I was completing projects at home that have been going on for months.

And then you came along.

You and your shiny, colorful, exploding candy.

You and your have-to-wait-30-minutes to get a new life unless you sell your childrens' souls (which one do you want?).

I love you.  And I hate you.

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

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Two Pulitzer Prize winners expose the most pervasive human rights violation of our era—the oppression of women in the developing world—and tell us what we can do about it.

An old Chinese proverb says “Women hold up half the sky.” Then why do the women of Africa and Asia persistently suffer human rights abuses? Continuing their focus on humanitarian issues, journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn take us to Africa and Asia, where many women live in profoundly dire circumstances—and some succeed against all odds.

A Cambodian teenager is sold into sex slavery; a formerly illiterate woman becomes a surgeon in Addis Ababa. An Ethiopian woman is left for dead after a difficult birth; a gang rape victim galvanizes the international community and creates schools in Pakistan. An Afghan wife is beaten by her husband and mother-in-law; a former Peace Corps volunteer founds an organization that educates and campaigns for women’s rights in Senegal.

Through their powerful true stories, the authors show that the key to progress lies in unleashing women’s potential, that change is possible, and that each of us can play a role in making it happen.


***Trigger warning: this review contains information about sexual assault that may be upsetting to survivors***

I finished this book a few days ago, and it's taking me longer than expected to gather all of my thoughts and feelings.

First and foremost: Holy. Smokes.

I thought I'd dealt with some pretty crappy events in my life, but nothing compares to what hundreds of millions of women endure: sex trafficking; forced prostitution; government-sanctioned gang rape; female genital mutilation; maternal health and mortality; and brutal attacks. All based on gender. All because they are women.

As horrifying as the stories and statistics show, there also some incredible sources of inspiration: Mukhtar Mai, the young Pakistani woman who was gang raped as a form of "honor revenge" on the orders of a tribal council. Rather than commit suicide, as was expected of her, she pressed charges. Though her life was in jeopardy and the courts were less than helpful, she carried on. Even when then-President Pervez Musharraf threatened her, took away her passport, and put her under house arrest, she continued to fight.

The book is filled with such stories. And my sensitive self cried during most of them.

The book also lists different ways that individuals can help! The first thing I did when I finished listening to the audiobook? I set up a Kiva account. I am now the proud lender of four differing projects in four areas of the developing world. I can't change the whole world, but I can help individuals improve their own lives.

Between the Lines, by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer

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What happens when happily ever after…isn’t?

Delilah is a bit of a loner who prefers spending her time in the school library with her head in a book—one book in particular. Between the Lines may be a fairy tale, but it feels real. Prince Oliver is brave, adventurous, and loving. He really speaks to Delilah.

And then one day Oliver actually speaks to her. Turns out, Oliver is more than a one-dimensional storybook prince. He’s a restless teen who feels trapped by his literary existence and hates that his entire life is predetermined. He’s sure there’s more for him out there in the real world, and Delilah might just be his key to freedom.

Delilah and Oliver work together to attempt to get Oliver out of his book, a challenging task that forces them to examine their perceptions of fate, the world, and their places in it. And as their attraction to each other grows along the way, a romance blossoms that is anything but a fairy tale.



What I liked about this book:

1. The premise: a character in a novel who is real? Score! It's not something I've seen before, so I was immediately intrigued. 
2. The author: I love Jodi Picoult. I think it's fantastic that her daughter is following in her footsteps.
3. The audio: all three of the voice artists embodied their characters. Whomever did the casting picked the right people.
4. The ending: totally cracked me up! Definitely the funniest part of the story.

What I didn't like:

1. It felt like the story dragged on until approximately 80% of the way through. I don't know if it's just because the pacing in the audiobook was a bit slower than I'm used to, but I wanted to cut out about an hour of listening time. It felt much longer than the seven CDs. This was enough of an annoyance that I knocked a whole star off of this review.

I usually listen to Jodi Picoult's novels, but I will likely read the print versions of anything that she and her daughter publish in the future. 

Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous

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January 24th - After you've had it, there isn't even life without drugs...

It started when she was served a soft drink laced with LSD in a dangerous party game. Within months, she was hooked, trapped in a downward spiral that took her from her comfortable home and loving family to the mean streets of an unforgiving city. It was a journey that would rob her of her innocence, her youth -- and ultimately her life. 

Read her diary.   
Enter her world.
You will never forget her.

For thirty-five years, the acclaimed, bestselling first-person account of a teenage girl's harrowing decent into the nightmarish world of drugs has left an indelible mark on generations of teen readers. As powerful -- and as timely -- today as ever, Go Ask Alice remains the definitive book on the horrors of addiction.




I knew going in that "Anonymous" didn't actually write the diary entries; that Beatrice Sparks misrepresented herself and the book's origin.  So I read it as a fictional novel.

There is NO way that a teenager speaks this way.  Even if I hadn't known that this wasn't a true story, that would have been a dead giveaway.

Maybe it was controversial and shocking for its time, but there are much better books published now.  If you want to read a compelling novel about drug abuse, try Ellen Hopkins' Crank trilogy, a fictionalized account of her daughter's experience.

The DUFF: (Designated Ugly Fat Friend), by Kody Keplinger

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Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. 

In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “the Duff,” she throws her Coke in his face.

But things aren’t so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him. 

Until it all goes horribly awry. 

It turns out Wesley isn’t such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.




Jennie from Life is Short. Read Fast. and I just completed a Buddy Read of The Duff: Designated Ugly Fat Friend.  Originally, I was going to give this book four stars, but I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. So five stars it is!

Wow, you guys. I am in so much love with this book.

To start, I wish that I'd had a high-school-age nightclub in my town when I was a student. What a fantastic idea! It seems so much safer than house parties. Remind me to figure out how to start this up when my kids are older. And yeah, I giggled at the name of the club: The Nest. Fitting, since that's where my book forum resides.

The awesome Ellen Page as Bianca

Bianca Piper is your average high school student: two best friends; a fantastically snarky personality; good grades; and a massive crush on a cute boy (but it's not who you think!).  She has a crappy car, and a ton of sh*t going on at home, and desperately needs an escape.  That escape comes in the form of Wesley Rush.

Wesley

Wesley is your typical high school manwhore: a long list of conquests; smoking hot body; a cocky attitude; and a fantastic kisser (among other things!). He's also a complete and total douchecanoe.

At 40% in to the book, I wondered how on earth Keplinger was going to transform Wesley -- someone I hated from the very start -- into the "hero" of the story.  I was very impressed with how she wrote him without completely changing his personality or making him ashamed of his past. 

The same can be said for Bianca: over the few weeks that the two of them were sleeping together, she subtly grew up.  There were "aha" moments, but it wasn't like the huge revelations you see in most YA novels.  An amazing feat for a book that is only 300 pages long!

As an adult, I was slightly uncomfortable with teenagers having sex.  Yes, I know it happens; it always has and always will.  But as a mother of two young kids, it petrifies me that they will one day become sexual beings.

:: shudder ::

Hypocrite that I am, I confess that the smexy times between Bianca and Wesley did get me all hot and bothered.

I am adding Kody Keplinger to my growing list of favorite authors.  I have just placed A Midsummer's Nightmare on hold at my local library.

Prisoner B-3087, by Alan Gratz

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Survive. At any cost.

10 concentration camps.

10 different places where you are starved, tortured, and worked mercilessly.

It's something no one could imagine surviving.

But it is what Yanek Gruener has to face.

As a Jewish boy in 1930s Poland, Yanek is at the mercy of the Nazis who have taken over. Everything he has, and everyone he loves, have been snatched brutally from him. And then Yanek himself is taken prisoner -- his arm tattooed with the words PRISONER B-3087.

He is forced from one nightmarish concentration camp to another, as World War II rages all around him. He encounters evil he could have never imagined, but also sees surprising glimpses of hope amid the horror. He just barely escapes death, only to confront it again seconds later.

Can Yanek make it through the terror without losing his hope, his will -- and, most of all, his sense of who he really is inside?

Based on an astonishing true story.



I feel awful rating a person's memoirs so low, but not as bad as I'd feel if Jack Gruener -- the protagonist -- had written it himself.  Especially since this is actually historical fiction, NOT what happened to him.

The book reads like an oral retelling of events: this happened, then this, then the next thing. While that works for a speech, it doesn't come across well as written text. I'm usually an emotional basketcase when reading accounts from WWII, but I only teared up once during this book. Were I listening to Mr. Gruener personally recount his years in the concentration camps, I'm sure I'd be a blubbering mess.

I'm glad that I read this book; I just wish it had evoked some stirring of emotion other than "eh."

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Awkward, by Marni Bates

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I'm Mackenzie Wellesley, and I've spent my life avoiding the spotlight. But that was four million hits ago...

Blame it on that grade school ballet recital, when I tripped and pulled the curtain down, only to reveal my father kissing my dance instructor. At Smith High, I'm doing a pretty good job of being the awkward freshman people only notice when they need help with homework. Until I send a burly football player flying with my massive backpack, and make a disastrous--not to mention unwelcome--attempt at CPR. Just when I think it's time for home schooling, the whole fiasco explodes on Youtube. And then the strangest thing happens. Suddenly, I'm the latest sensation, sucked into a whirlwind of rock stars, paparazzi, and free designer clothes. I even catch the eye of the most popular guy at school. That's when life gets really interesting...




So cute!

I've been in a total reading slump the past few days and stumbled upon this book on my Kindle.  I don't remember getting it (and it wasn't on my TBR), but I figured that I'd give it a shot.  Since nothing was interesting me, I wouldn't be let down by reading a book on my "I can't wait to read this!" list.

This was an excellent find!  Mackenzie is adorkable and totally someone I would have been friends with in high school.  It's fun watching what she does when she becomes famous after an embarrassing encounter is uploaded to youtube.

This was a really fun book that I read in a few short hours.  It's a good choice if you're looking for a light YA read.