103.
Title: [A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning]
Author: Lemony Snicket
Genre: Children's
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition: Library
Date Completed: 12.12.16
Rating: ****

The Baudelaire children, Violet (14), Klaus (12), and Sunny, are privileged, intelligent, and loyal figures who are very quickly orphaned by a catastrophic fire, and whisked off to live with a previously-unknown relative, Count Olaf. Olaf, of course, has eyes only for their fortune, and begins some dreadful scheming as soon as the bank solicitor Mr. Poe informs him that no one can tough the fortune until Violet is of age. Intended for early readers, the plot of this novel is quick and simple, without being simplistic - Lemony Snicket does not make the mistake of underestimating his readers, and instead shows that he believes children can handle unsavory narratives and new vocabulary with just a little help. The story is built on themes such as sibling bonding, research, self-sufficiency, and the absolutely ludicrous culture of adulthood which favors strange legalities over happy endings.  I will certainly suggest this one to my own offspring, and will seek out the second for myself.

102.
Title: [The Girl With All the Gifts]
Author: M.R. Carey
Genre: science fiction
Medium: hardback
Acquisition: Library
Date Completed: Gave up after 250 pages
Rating: **

Released as a film in September of 2016, Carey's The Girl With All the Gifts seemed to be a fresh take on the dystopian zombie genre, offering fresh ideas and dynamic characters in a thoroughly saturated market. The protagonist is Melanie, a young girl with no memories other than the compound in which she lives, and understanding the world outside only through the lessons she and her fellow children receive from a handful of questionably-qualified instructors. As the novel progresses, or if the audience has already seen the trailer, it becomes clear that Melanie is actually a zombie child, and that the facility is testing zombie children who retain some semblance of mental prowess in order to distill an antidote, or vaccine.  The strength of Carey's novel is in Melanie herself, whose complexity is balanced with her naturally childlike innocence and demeanor - here is a zombie one would want to shelter and protect, whose IQ is higher than most of the living adults around her. She's fascinating, and not just to the likely-psychopathic Dr. Caldwell who has collected these zombie children as test subjects to be dissected and discarded.

And after 250 pages I just couldn't push through any further.  I really wanted to like this book - it holds such promise. Ultimately, though, I found the secondary characters to be wooden, the plot plodding, and the push for differentiating too ludicrous.  Take, for example, the vocabulary of this dystopian world: zombies are called hungries.  Hungries.  Because the obvious "zombies" is too ... banal? And "hungries" is so much more ... I have no idea. It's a juvenile departure from canon that disrupts the attempts at scientific and humanistic approach, suggesting a sophomoric and nearly hispter approach that is unnecessary for the progress of the text. The characters are trite to the point of exhaustion, and after so long I just couldn't care any longer. While I would love to know what happens to Melanie, I just couldn't invest any more time in the book.


A point of curiosity from the film preview: they've swapped races. Melanie, blonde-haired and blue-eyed in the novel, is played by Sennia Nanua; Helen Justineau, described as an overwhelmingly beautiful woman of African descent in the novel, is portrayed by Gemma Arterton. While I'm inclined to posit theories and offer cultural analysis, I'm resisting the temptation without seeing the film. Still, it seems like a potentially charged decision to change the race of the captive, dangerous, at-times bestial zombie, held in captivity by militant white figures.

101.
Title: [Eric]
Author: Terry Pratchett
Genre: Satiric Fantasy
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Purchased
Date Completed: December 10, 2016
Rating: **

The most favorable feature of this books is its length, coming in at just 197 pages and utilizing a larger-than-usual font. A young demonologist tries to call a hell-bound slave to satisfy his three wishes, and in a plot twist never believably developed ends up with the lamentable Rincewind instead. Rincewind is a coward, dislikes the current situation, and tries to run. The end.

Geekery!

21. 
Title: [Ready Player One]
Author: Ernest Cline
Genre: Fantasy, Dystopian
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: March 17 2014
Rating: ****

Ready Player One, though just published in 2012, is an old story: Wade, an American high school senior, is a gunter, living almost entirely online in an environment called Oasis.  This virtual space offers an alternative existence to reality, in which the world is steadily falling apart, though class, culture, and economy still thrive in familiar ways, both online and IRL. When billionaire hermit Halliday, the creator of Oasis, dies, he leaves his entire fortune (and control of the company - and thus, Oasis) to the Oasis user who can find his Easter egg.  This kind of power is nearly limitless, so everyone engages in a 1980s-saturated quest for the egg.  Gunters like Wade are battling corporate America, aka IOI, who hopes to find the egg and commercialize Oasis in anti-bohemian ways. 

One's familiarity with the target audience - "geeks" who grew up in the 1980s - will greatly impact the enjoyment of the story.  I'm a bit too young for many allusions, and not a gamer, but my own fondness for and familiarity with geeks carried me through the story with smiles.  Wade is flawed and likeable, and the text as a whole is warm and familiar, even for someone with limited experience.  Though this is not a five-star read for me, I can very easily understand why it's gained such popularity, and can highly recommend it myself. 

80.
Title: Nightshifted
Author: Cassie Alexander
Pages: 352
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition:
Date Completed: December 29, 2012
Rating: **1/2

Another reviewer on LibraryThing comments that a female protagonist is rare in urban fantasy; apparently we have entirely different reading habits, because I find the genre to be saturated with strong-yet-annoyingly-vulnerable female protagonists with cozy-like occupations (shop clerk, DJ, nurse).  And Nightshifted is just such a novel.  The protagonist, Edie, is a nurse who takes a job on a secret supernatural ward in exchange for mysteries powers-that-be promising to keep her junkie brother clean.  Initially, this is an interesting plot device, but the novel proves to be more niche-focused than generally appealing; Nightshifted relies largely on genre fans with some personal attachment to nursing/hospitals, and falls flat for a reader like me. 

81.
Title: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth
Pages: 576
Genre: YA Dystopian
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition: Borrowed from the library
Date Completed: December 30, 2012
Rating: ***

If you're read more than one young adult dystopian novel, then you've read this before. 

In a genre that essentially lacks originality, what I find important is character development and pacing.  In Divergent, the reader follows Tris as she (predictably) leaves the faction of her birth to join the (predictably) violent faction in charge of "security," where she (predictably) makes enemies, proves to be "different," and finds a teenage love interest.  Ultimately, Tris is not an unlikeable protagonist, but the pacing of the novel shifts from tedious to absurdly rushed. The shift is jolting, and disrupts any suspension of disbelief.  Ultimately, Divergent is stronger than novels like Delirium, but is not the best example of the genre that has been published in recent years. 

74.
Title: [Deep Kiss of Winter]
Author: Kresley Cole and Gena Showalter
Pages: 436
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition:
Date Completed: December 11, 2012
Rating: **1/2

I've encountered both of these authors with varying success before, and as I approach a paper on paranormal romance I thought jumping into this pairing would be a good step back into the genre.  Both works, as this marketing scheme requires, are loosely related to a single idea used to bind the two stories together, with a bit of fan-girl-fawning over each other in the acknowledgements.  Cole's is certainly the stronger story, although neither is particularly captivating. Fans of either should stick with solo publications.  

75.
Title: [Anna Dressed in Blood]
Author: Kendare Blake
Pages: 320
Genre: YA Horror
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: December 12, 2012
Rating: ****

Anna Dressed in Blood is a true ghost story, of the kind that so often mark a horror enthusiast's early introduction to the genre.  This begins as the kind of story I would "sneak" out of the library and read under the covers, a la Scary Stories to Read in the Dark.  Cas is a ghost-hunter who, like his father, is dedicating his life to sending back murderous spirits.  He takes up the athame after his father ultimately lost who own battle with such a spirit, and with his witch mother travels the country, trying to keep the living safe from the dead.  As has to happen in YA novels, something is different about this ghost - Anna Dressed in Blood - and Cas finds himself with unlikely accomplices, despite his years of solo work. 

Blake wonderfully weaves in traditional ghost stories into this plot, giving audiences the hitchhiker and the haunted house that are so often abandoned after summer camps are a thing of the past.  Anna Dressed in Blood favorably reminds me of I Am Not a Serial Killer, and like the latter has what I'll call an "unnecessary element" that detracts from narrative.  Overall, the book is highly successful, and highly enjoyable. 

76.
Title: [Penelope]
Author: Rebecca Harrington
Pages: 120 read before giving up
Genre: Fiction
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed:
Rating: **

I can understand why people would find this book entertaining, and even why people would like Penelope, the socially awkward and completely human Harvard freshman trying to find her way.  Personally, I found Penelope overly immature and dull, and found the social interactions even less interesting than when I myself was in college.  Penelope is not for me. 

77.
Title: [The Darkest Prison]
Author: Gena Showalter
Pages: ?  LT says 448, but there's no way
Genre: Supernatural Romance
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition:
Date Completed: December 13, 2012
Rating: ***

Standard fare. 

78.
Title: [Amittyville Horrible]
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Pages:
Genre:
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition:
Date Completed: December 13, 2012
Rating: ****

When Armstrong concluded her Otherwood series with Thirteen she promised fans that this wouldn't be the last they'd see of the characters they'd come to love, and with the novella/short story "Amittyville Horrible" she keeps that promise.  This one follows Jamie, necromancer, as she's roped into another reality special - "for charity."  Like always, Armstrong is consistent with her characters, paces the stories well, and offers a twist I didn't expect.  "Amittyville Horrible" is a very fun read. 

79.
Title: [Delirium]
Author: Lauren Oliver
Pages: 480
Genre: YA Dystopian
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition: Borrowed from the library
Date Completed: December 17, 2012
Rating: **

Love is identified as a fatal disease, a "cure" is found, and the US closes its borders as it pushes to eradicate human connection in pursuit of "happiness."  Yes, you've stumbled upon a YA dystopian.  And, of course, this means that a rebellion is brewing, and our perfectly plain and unassuming protagonist is in for dangerous romance, rebellion, and chaos. 

Delirium was listed by a colleague as being one of "the best" of the genre, and if this is true then I would have to identify the genre as one that is inherently weak.  The story is trite and the plot devices are shallow; that an author would actually say that love is a disease is sophomoric and uninteresting, overshadowing all that could be redeemable in the narrative. 

66.
Title: [Othello]
Author: Shakespeare
Pages: 100
Genre: drama
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: work text
Date Completed: October 20, 2012
Rating: *****

This semester I assigned a "defense of villainy" essay for our reading of Othello: students had to either defend Iago, or Othello's murder of Desdemona.  I'm about to dive into those essays now...

67. 
Title: [The Adoration of Jenna Fox]
Author: Mary E. Pearson
Pages: 288
Genre: YA Dystopian
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Purchased used
Date Completed: November 1, 2012
Rating: ***1/2

The Adoration of Jenna Fox was included on a list of superior YA dystopian fiction I received at a conference, and though the first suggestion was a major flop ([Feed]), I decided to give this a try.  I'm glad I did.  While I'm not certain I agree with the labeling of this text as dystopian, the narrative is interesting and really calls one to question our current medical and political systems.  It's not perfect, and some questions are left unanswered, but overall the novel is satisfying. 

68. 
Title: [Titus Andronicus]
Author: Shakespeare
Pages: 100
Genre: drama
Medium: paperback
Acquisition: Work text
Date Completed: November 1, 2012
Rating: *****

Presented somewhere between 1592-1595, Shakespeare's earliest tragedy is a product of its time; revenge tragedies and the translated works of Seneca are widely popular, each characterized by violence and bizarre events.  Although the content of the play - including mutilation, rape, and cannibalism - may seem shocking, even these elements are not singular to Shakespeare's text, as much of the inspiration for characterization and events comes from Ovid's Metamorphosis.

Using Titus in the classroom for the first time is very interesting, as student reactions vary widely - one student has even requested to step out momentarily when we discuss the rape of Lavinia.  The students recognize the sins of Titus, and yet still we wrestle with our desire to prefer him to Tamora.  Discussions are lively, and the questions are very smart.  At the end of it all I am asking them to write a paper of definition defining "tyrant" or "tyranny," using both (or either) Othello and Titus as support. 

The school's drama department is producing Titus now, and many students have said that being asked to see the play has actually improved their readings.  I'll go see it myself tomorrow. 

69. 
Title: [The Beautiful Mystery]
Author: Louise Penny
Pages: 384
Genre: Mystery
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Preordered
Date Completed: November 2, 2012
Rating: ***

Never before have I been able to step away from a Louise Penny novel before full consumption, but I had no problem putting down The Beautiful Mystery for long periods of time; despite preordering the book and receiving it on its release date, I'm only just finishing the novel.  Much is poetic, as usual, but I didn't find the story nearly as compelling as others.  As for the conclusion, my one thought is good riddance to bad rubbish. 

63. 
Title: [The Family Fang]
Author: Kevin Wilson
Pages: 336
Genre: Fiction
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition:
Date Completed: October 7, 2012
Rating: ***

Not so long ago, an "artist" "preformed" the birth of her son in a gallery, and announced that his poor life would from that moment become her art.  I still find every aspect of this repugnant, so my reading of The Family Fang leads me to see the novel as far too pertinent.  Following the present and past "works" of the "artists" known as the Fang Family, the novel focuses on the self-absorption of the parents, and the deep psychological damage done to children who are used by their parents. (I would argue that Annie and Buster would be just as fragile if their parents pushed them in other occupations as strongly as they do their performance art.)  Why just three stars?  A lack of sympathy; the characters are too flawed for me to connect, leaving the narrative feeling dry and distant.  In my reading, there is only one character worth saving, and her  partial redemption is my only comfort in reading this novel. 

64.  
Title: [Feed]
Author: M.T. Anderson
Pages: 320
Genre: YA Dystopian
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition:
Date Completed: October 14, 2012
Rating: **

At a panel on Dystopian YA at the MWPCA Conference, one of speakers heralded Feed as one of the classics of dystopian fiction - specifically dystopian YA - that will stand the test of time, even when the current trend fades.  As a fan of the genre, I rushed to buy this supposedly genius work (of which I had previously heard nothing). 

The kindest thing I can say about this novel is that it is annoying.  Attempting Burgess-like dialect and slang, Anderson's text, while demonstrating the deterioration of intellect caused by the use of the Feed and the impossibility of full communication in the present society, grows stale within just a few pages, and serves as nothing more than a hindrance to the story as a whole.  The ideas are themselves unoriginal; or, if Anderson is the original creator, then his novel has not stood the test of time in keeping his original ideas fresh and interesting.  I would argue that this novel is not a "classic" to remain current throughout time; this is certainly no Fahrenheit 451.

65.
Title: [Lies Beneath]
Author: Anne Greenwood Brown
Pages: 320
Genre: YA
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition: Borrowed from Library
Date Completed: October 17, 2012
Rating: ***1/2

The folkloric history of mermaids is far more sinister than Disney allows, and Brown's mermaids are more of a traditional cast than the animated re-imagining.   I appreciate any text that continues to portray monsters as monsters, as the current trend is to romanticize anything that would really like to eat you. Brown's novel is engaging, if somewhat shallow and predictable, and manages well the expectations of the genre. 

22.
Title: [Wither]
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Pages: 384 pages
Genre: YA Dystopian Fiction
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition:
Date Completed: February 21, 2012
Rating: ****

The dystopia of Lauren DeStefano's Wither is at once alien and strikingly familiar. In a world suffering the consequences of human development (including genetic manipulation, for one thing), it is rumored that only the former North American continent has survived natural disasters - and the population is dwindling as new generations die in their 20s. s

In this world young girls are frequently kidnapped as "brides" for the young and wealthy, and are forced to live in polygamous households working to produce future generations in the "hopes" that a cure will be found and society can recover.

Wither is appropriately bleak, and the protagonist is (usually) sympathetic, although I quickly found that the most appealing characters did not include Rhine. While not as energetic as The Hunger Games, Wither is worth a try for fans of dystopian literature.

1.
Title: Mockingjay
Author: Suzanne Collins
Pages: 400
Genre: Dystopian
Medium: Kindle E-book
Acquisition: Final in the trilogy
Date Completed: January 1, 2012
Rating: *****

Mockingjay is a captivating and satisfying conclusion to Suzanne Collins's dystopian trilogy. Never one to fear a body count, Collins is unrelenting in the series of tragedies, and her characters are remarkably human, adding to the chill of the premise of the series.

101.
Author: Suzanne Collins
Title: Catching Fire
publication: Kindle
Pages:
Genre: Dystopian
Acquisition: sequel
Date: December 29, 2011
Rating: ****

Despite Katniss' relief at the conclusion of The Hunger Games, it is evident to the reader that "it" is not over; the feeling of unrest, the political ramifications of her actions, and the building personal tension scream out for a sequel, which is presented in Catching Fire.

In this second book of the trilogy, the reader is fully (albeit briefly) introduced to the "head" of this horrendous civilization, and as Collins further develops the society outside of the games it becomes clear that not everyone in the Capitol is as repugnant as President Snow, but rather have been indoctrinated into his insanity.

There is little relief for Katniss and her loved ones, as she struggles to again find her path through the mine-field that is her society. While even more predictable than the first, the second is just as compelling, and leads directly in to the concluding novel, Mockingjay.

97.
Author: Suzanne Collins
Title: The Hunger Games
publication: Kindle
Pages:
Genre: dystopian
Acquisition:
Date: December 20, 2011
Rating: *****

Recently, my partner and I were in a book store, and he turned to me and said, "The Hunger Games - that's a classic, isn't it?" And because the title has been floating around my subconscious for an untold length of time I frown and say, "Well, I think so." Some books are like that for us - we'll hear a title a number of times, until we tend to think it's much older and more relevant than it is.

Although The Hunger Games isn't actually "a classic," it is certainly poised to be. Collins takes traditional dystopian tropes and melds them into something both horrifying and enthralling. More compelling than 1984, more horrifying than Fahrenheit 451, and more sympathetic than Ender's Game, Collins manages to take a weave a story that, while not original, remains with the reader more than those of her predecessors. This strength lies in the development of her strong protagonist - Katniss - and the pure humanity that Katniss brings to the narrative.