Friday, March 18, 2011

Recap 3/12 to 3/18


In case you missed anything, here's a recap of what was posted Saturday, March 12th through Friday, March 18th. 

Also included:
Mini review of Trapped by Michael Northrop
My personal updates


(Click on the links to go to my reviews)

Memes



Features

What's Your Status?

A meme created by Zakiya from Butterfly Feet Walking on Life where we recap our reading week. Feel free to visit her site and link up your own What's Your Status Posts. Here's how my week went:

Finished


The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa
Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell
(Click on the link to go to Goodreads)



Currently Reading


Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin
A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine
(Click on the link to go to Goodreads)


Did Not Finish


Trapped by Michael Northrop
Page 49 of 232
Received: Library

I tried reading Trapped but couldn't make it very far. About a chapter or two into it I began skimming. The kids only realize they are trapped by the point I stopped reading. I wanted them to jump into the disaster a lot sooner, especially in such a small book. That would have been fine though if not for the writing style, which is the reason I DNF-ed this book. 

The writing style was a mix of a very strong attempt to capture MG boy manner of speech with jarringly un-MG like bits thrown in as well. I found it overall extremely grating. I appreciate it when an author tries to capture teen speech accurately, but I do also want them to clean it up a bit. Dialogue can still come across as realistic even if the "likes" and similar ticks of adolescent speech are removed for ease of reading. Even though the manner of speech was accurate to teens, I didn't think many of the things actually said were things teens would say. The "accent" is spot on, but the words aren't.

That all made for a very uncomfortable reading experience for me and I decided not to continue. I'm curious to see what a MG boy would think of the writing. I am not a MG boy and not even the target audience, so perhaps these features would bother the target audience less.

 

Personal Updates

Click to make larger
This has been an extremely busy and stressful week! We are preparing to move from a house to an apartment...over 1,700 miles away. It's a long process, but we're starting to consolidate our belongings and decide what to keep, what to leave behind, and what to sell. 

Unfortunately one of the things I had to sell was my beautiful classic car pictured above. I adore that car and am still in shock that I sold her. Ah, at least it seems like she went to a good home.  

Miss anything last week? Click here to read a Recap





8 comments:

  1. Did you like Song of the Sparrow?
    I love it, and I never thought I would like a verse novel so much but I just fell for that book.

    Also loved your review of the Julian Game, finally got a clear idea of what that book was about!

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  2. 1700 miles?! Dang! All the way across the country?

    That car is so pretty. Too bad you had to sell. :( It reminds me of KITT from Knight Rider. I love that show. LOVE.

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  3. Alex, I did like it. I don't usually like books in verse, and while I do still wish this was a novel I liked it a lot more than I expected. Thank you! I'm so glad you found my Julian Game review helpful.

    Logan, Yup, pretty much across the country. I'm just a little bit terrified! It's basically the same car as KITT :)

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  4. Wow, that's quite a life adjustment, moving from a house to an apartment. Oh the consolidation, ugh! What a beautiful car, too. Its sad you had to sell.

    You are currently reading two books I've never heard of. That doesn't suprise me any longer. You always have undiscovered books (at least for me) featured on your blog.

    As always my favorite part of this post is the ones you couldn't finished. I've read mixed reviews on "Trapped". None of the reviewers had the issue you spoke of. I guess if I'm interested in trying this book out I'll download a sample to my kindle first.

    Thanks!

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  5. Aw, I'm so sorry about your car. It is really pretty; I'd be sad, too! And overall great week! I've been browsing through your posts, but haven't had a chance to comment. I suck, since this is one of my fave blogs!

    :(

    Asher K.

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  6. That's one helluva move you're doing there. Sorry you've had to sell your beloved car, but i hope the move goes well.

    I'm sorry you didn't like Trapped. That is one I'm hoping to get my hands on soon as I really fancy it. I'm hoping the price goes down though as it's pretty pricey for what it is.

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  7. Song of Sparrow has been on my TBR for a while... I really should get to it, eh?
    Also, I love Gail Carson Levine, can't wait to read another princessy book by her.

    Trapped! I skimmed it and liked it... I'm glad that it didn't turn as "Lord of the Flies"-ish as I'd feared.

    GOOD LUCK on your move! Big moves like that are hard. After moving from Los Angeles to Texas, back to L.A. and now to Atlanta, I am DONE with big moves of any sort.

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  8. Gina, Oh yeah, huge life adjustment! I just hope I can bring all my books :) Thank you about my car. I try to feature undiscovered books, so I’m glad I’m accomplishing that! I read a review from Melissa at I Swim for Oceans and she also mentioned the “youthful” language as a bit of a problem for her. I would definitely suggest checking out a sample first and seeing if the writing style works for you.

    Asher, Thank you :) Aw, you don’t suck! I’ve been browsing this week mostly myself. I just don’t have the time to comment like I want to, so don’t worry at all about your lack of comments. Life happens :)

    The Slowest Bookworm, Oh yeah, it’s frighteningly far! But exciting too. Thank you :) I hope you find an affordable copy of Trapped. Maybe used?

    Madigan, Haha, I’ve had Song of the Sparrow on my shelves for about six months, which is an incredibly short time for me! Usually it’s more like years before I get around to reading them. It’s a very quick read since it’s all in verse. I’m really enjoying the GCL book. She always has something clever and interesting going on. This one has an interesting mystery. Haha, my biggest fear with Trapped was that they’d burn the books in the school library to keep warm! Thank you for the good luck! It’s the longest move I’ve ever done. Every other move I’ve made has been within a half an hour away from where I was already living. Any advice from your big move experiences?

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