Jana's Recent 5-Star Reads

Since becoming a book blogger, I find myself not LOVING as many books as I used to. I'm not sure if my tastes are changing, if I'm expecting more of a book because I've read so many amazing ones (and terrible ones), or if I'm just getting pickier because I feel like my readers expect brutal honesty from me. I'm not giving out as many 5-star reviews as I used to. Is that good or bad? I'm not sure... Anyone feel like weighing in here on this?

Anyway, I thought I'd highlight a few of the books that have gotten 5 stars out of me lately!

Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill 
(full review here)

This might possibly be my new favorite YA contemporary romance! I love the descriptions of London (a place I am just dying to visit), our very nerdy Julia (her nickname is Book Licker. COME ON.), and the swoony young love that blooms and burns sooooo slowly. And the witty banter and hilarious situations can't hurt. Plus, travel. This book knocked it out of the park for me. 

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo 

(full review here, in which I make a Friends reference... 

because doesn't Friends fit into everything?)

Guys. I am not a fantasy lover. Or at least I never had been. Leigh has created this super dynamic, exciting, mysterious world for us and I can't get enough of it. Plus, her writing had me salivating. It's absolutely amazing. Throw in a bad-a heroine, a sexy villain, a noble love interest, and SO MANY DETAILS, and you've got a Jana who loves the fantasy genre.

Instructions for a Broken Heart by Kim Culbertson 
(full review here)

Yet another book that takes place on a class trip to a far off place. Can you tell I missed out on study abroad and class vacations? Yeah. My love of this book probably comes from my love of Italy. Kim took me right back. Our heroine, Jessa, is perfectly flawed and so much fun to read about. And then there are some sweet boys... and introspection... a little controversy. I just loved it. And honestly, I have not been hearing enough about it these days. Don't let this one get lost on your TBR shelf! 

 
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (full review here)

I probably don't have to explain much with this one. Marissa has me loving Little Red Riding Hood, a story I hate growing up. And I got to see my best pal Cinder again, which was a surprise. I love that Marissa writes strong heroines, and then puts the focus on them. These girls don't need saving, and that's refreshing. I love the balance of humor and seriousness, and I'll never get enough of this world. Ahhhh...

Ok, so there you have it! Do any of you feel the way I do about these titles? And please. Throw some of your 5-star reads at me, because I'd really LOVE to read them! And I'm serious about advice on whether or not you're getting more picky about books as time goes on. Are you a book blogger who finds themselves getting more cynical? Are you getting more selective in your "old" age? Help a girl out!

In which Bridget discusses the appeal of short stories versus novels

I am very much a novels person. I love grabbing a chunky volume off the shelf and curling up with it, and I've found that my favorite novels tend to be at least 500 pages long. I'm also very much a details person in that I find that I need to know everything, and that's what long novels usually give me: painstaking detail.

This is also why I am generally not a big fan of short stories.

But--I've been reading a lot of Stephen King's short stories recently. Maybe it's just that it's him, but I've been enjoying them quite a bit. One of the advantages is that if I'm not necessarily very into a story, I don't feel bad skipping over it. It's also an advantage that I can tell myself it'll only be a few more pages and then it'll be over--it's not like trying to plod through a novel that I'm not enjoying.

They're also just cool little pieces of the author's mind. It's so interesting to me to think that an author could be struck by an idea and create an entire story in pretty much one sitting.

I feel like I've always resisted short stories unless I had no choice--by which I mean, if I wanted to read something by Edgar Allen Poe, it would probably have to be a short story. The desire to read short stories just never really translated to authors that had written things other than short stories. My fiancé wanted me to read a collection of James Thurber's short stories once, and after not really getting into the first few, the book sat guiltily on my nighttable until he asked if I was ever actually going to finish. I said I might, but short stories just really weren't my thing. It was difficult for me to enjoy them because right as I was getting drawn in, the story would be over.

I think now, though, after reading a few of Stephen King's short story collections in a row (Everything's Eventual, Night Shift, Skeleton Crew, and now I'm working on Nightmares and Dreamscapes for a second time), I'm starting to appreciate the format a little bit more. It's kind of cool to have neat, easily digestible, read-in-one-sitting stories that I don't necessarily need to get invested in (even though I do).

That actually leads me to a good metaphor: short stories, to me, always felt like the one-night-stand of the book world. No commitment, minimal time spent, just wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am and we're done. I've always been a deep, committed relationship kind of person when it comes to my books. But now I think I'm ready to play the field a bit more with some more short stories.

So, that being said, a question those of you who are connoisseurs of short stories: where do I start? Or, I guess, where do I continue? What are some of your favorite short stories? Did you have to learn to like short stories like I did, or have you always liked them? Which do you like better, short stories or novels? Let us know in the comments!

The Great Gatsby: Book vs. Movie

I've been waiting for MONTHS for the newest movie adaptation of The Great Gatsby to come out. Since pretty much the trailer was released sometime last year. I must say I was not disappointed.

It has been a couple years since I last read The Great Gatsby so I am a little fuzzy on the details of the book. From what I remember the movie stayed close to the book but there were a few things that were added for the movie or I just forgot.

I loved the flashy-ness of the movie. It was over-the-top but Baz Luhrmann did direct it. The soundtrack is...interesting. Definitely not something from the time period. But it does grab your attention and goes with the "flashy" theme.

And the clothes!! I loved everything Daisy and Jordan wore in the movie! Pretty dresses with sparkles and lots of gorgeous jewlery. Sometimes I wish I could dress like that on a daily basis.

Have you seen the newest adaptation of The Great Gatsby (or any of the movie versions)?  What did you think?

Julia's Top Ten Favorite Covers Of Books She's Read

For the future Top Ten schedule and how to participate go HERE!

Top Ten Favorite Covers of Books I've Read

In no particular order, the covers that caught my eye after I did a quick scan of my "Read" shelf in cover mode on Goodreads. Each cover will click through to the Goodread's page. Enjoy my completely impulsive, entirely bias top ten lists of cover based on books that I have read! - Julia

For most of these covers I like how they look (An Affair with Mr. Kennedy, Firelight, Yours Until Dawn, Across the Universe, The Memory of Water), others I liked what they had to say about the story within (Darkly Dreaming Dexter, The Time Traveler's Wife, Cinder, Beyond Heaving Bosoms), but with The Taming of the Duke, there is a story. I literally started reading Eloisa James because those abs on the cover above were haunting my dreams. Every time I passed by the book in Wal*Mart or Borders I would just stare. Literally stop, pick the book up, put it back down... rinse repeat. Finally I gave in to their pull (what was taming those abs? Must be one powerful woman!), devoured the book even though it was the third in the series, and as I made by way through her backlist, Ms. James became one of my favorite authors.

So link up your favorites! Let's enjoy the pretty covers. shall we?

Kelly reviews "The Virgin Suicides" by Jeffrey Eugenides

Title: The Virgin Suicides

Author: Jeffrey Eugenides

Published: Bloomsbury Publishing, 1993

 I am a HUGE fan of Sofia Coppola movies, and upon noticing that her wonderful movie The Virgin Suicides was based on a book, I knew that book had to be great.

The five Lisbon sisters are the unnamed narrator's beautiful and mysterious neighbors. The narrator and his friends (teenage boys) are obsessed with every move the girls take and worship the ground they walk on. At first you'd think that the sisters are some perfect, angelic beings, but they're not. It's mentioned that they all have crowded teeth, and some walk duck footed or have upper lip hair. The girls are real people. (They felt too perfect to me in the movie. Kristen Dunst? AJ Cook? Come on.) The Lisbon parents are very overprotective, but when the youngest sister makes a suicide attempt, they become even stricter. I couldn't quite tell why the parents were so fanatic. Was it religion? Or just wanting to protect the girls' innocence?

As time goes on and certain events happen, the girls are put on stricter and stricter lock-down  to the point they are withdrawn from school and barely let outside. That's when the girls hit their breaking point and, well, the title comes into play. The book is a haunting look at how a typical white-picket fence community in the 70s reacts to "the year of the suicides" and tried to come together to protect itself. I wanted to know more personally about the narrator. He's telling the story as a middle-aged adult looking back at a year in high school, yet he's clearly still obsessed. I wish we could see more about how the girls' actions affected him in the few years afterward. Reading the book made me realize that the movie, in pure Sofia Coppola form, is too minimal. The book and movie are the same in that the use of dialogue is sparse, but the book gives us much more detail and insight into how the girls lived their lives and for all practical purposes, struggled to survive.

Lori Reviews All the Summer Girls

Title: All the Summer Girls

Author:  Meg Donohue

Published:  William Morrow, 2013

Where I Got It:  I received this book from the publishers.

Summary from Goodreads: In Philadelphia, good girl Kate is dumped by her fiance the day she learns she is pregnant with his child. In New York City, beautiful stay-at-home mom Vanessa is obsessively searching the Internet for news of an old flame. And in San Francisco, Dani, the aspiring writer who can't seem to put down a book--or a cocktail--long enough to open her laptop, has just been fired...again.

In an effort to regroup, Kate, Vanessa, and Dani retreat to the New Jersey beach town where they once spent their summers. Emboldened by the seductive cadences of the shore, the women being to realize how much their lives, and friendships, have been shaped by the choices they made one fateful night on the beach eight years earlier--and the secrets that only now threaten to surface.

My thoughts:  I LOVED THIS!  A month or so ago, I signed up to receive this book thinking that it would be a nice, relaxing read.  I saw that it was coming out on the 21st, so I really wanted to read it before then.  And I waited and waited for the book to arrive.  I began to worry that it wouldn't get here in time for me to review before it came out.  It came a few days ago, just in time for me to make a lot of progress during Bout of Books.  But I still wasn't overly optimistic about finishing by the 21st.  As you can see, this review is coming out on the 19th.  Apparently, I didn't really need to worry because I couldn't put it down.

I found myself relating to something in each of the three friends' personalities and I think that most readers of this novel would do the same.  I couldn't help but sympathize with the characters and their struggles.  Despite being practically inseparable growing up, each of the characters carries a deep (usually dark) secret about their current lives and one about the fateful night alluded to in the summary.  Donohue does a great job of letting these secrets come out in the narrative.  Each chapter follows the interior thoughts of one of the main characters, giving the reader a variety of perspectives.

This book was definitely the ultimate beach read.  I really wish I had been sitting poolside--if not seaside--as I read this.  I felt myself completely relax and get caught up in the story, wondering what would happen next, how things would play out.  I came to really care about the characters and what happened to them.  Donohue leaves the rest of the story to the readers' imagination, but you get the sense that they will each turn out to be happy.

Bottom line--this was a really fun read that I think many of our readers would really enjoy.

Tahleen reviews: "The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom" by Christopher Healy

Title: The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom
Author: Christopher Healy
Publisher: Walden Pond Press, 2012

Rating: 4.5 stars

Love fairy tale retellings? Looking for something that will make you laugh out loud? Look no further.

We've all heard the stories. Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel. All saved by the ever-present Prince Charming. But what you might not have known is that Prince Charming is actually not one person. Yes, each princess was saved by a separate Prince, and they all have very distinct personalities. The only thing they have in common is they don't REALLY get credit for doing anything in the stories, since they don't have names. And for some, that's actually a good thing.

So what happens when Cinderella runs away to find adventure, and spoiled but good-hearted Prince Frederic goes after her? He somehow meets up with three other princes, of course: Prince Gustav, Prince Liam, and Prince Duncan. And they set off to find the girl, but end up trying to save the world. (Of course.)

This is one of the funniest and most delightful books I've read in a good, long time. The dialogue is just perfect. I felt like I was reading conversations that actually happened, that I would hear or have in my normal day. Except funnier. Just trust me, it's awesome.

The concept is brilliant too. Four prince charmings, all fairly clueless, teaming up to combine their different (and very specific) talents? Fantastic. And their talents are awesome too! I love that Healy made the princes figure out what their contributions could be, since they all weren't the traditional hero or nearly perfect.

Basically this book has it all. Romance (sort of), great characters, action, and hilarity. I can't wait to pick up its sequel, The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle, which is out  now.

Disclosure: I got this book from my local library.