In Darkness

It's easy to see why this won the Printz award, it's an astounding work of young adult fiction!! It's a hard, depressing read but fret not for it is worth all the angst.

The story opens in darkness and then bounces back in forth between modern day Haiti (immediately following the destructive earthquake from a few years ago) and Haiti fighting for its freedom. The narrators are "Shorty", a fifteen year old gangster from one of the most dangerous slums in the world and Toussaint L'Ouverture, the former slave who brought freedom to Haiti.

Shorty is trapped in a collapsed hospital for days surrounded by dead bodies in complete darkness and thinks he is starting to lose his mind when he is able to recall/dream/hallucinate of his life as legendary Toussaint L'Ouverture.

A teenager and black slave seperated by centuries are bound together by Haiti by darkness, adversity, and despair. Together they are able to lift themselves out of the darkness by telling their story. They are completely seperate individuals, yet they are one as well.

This book is seriously fantastical. The prose is amazing and the author does a wonderful job of bringing Haitian hardships to life through slang, song, and storytelling. A definite must read!!!

The Great Gatsby

I hadn't reread this book since my freshman year of high school and I'm really glad I did because I discovered that I no longer hate it. In high school I was convinced that this book was awful and had the most depressing ending ever. Now, I appreciate the fluidity if the writing and the beauty f the words and I'm quite the fan.

This will go on my shelf as an American classic, a novel that really catches the decadence of a bygone era and captures human faults to a T.

As a side note, I saw the new Baz Luhrman adaptation and I am a HUGE fan, I think he captured the book perfectly. Go see it.... After you read the book that is.

Tyger Tyger

Eh. That's my summary of the book, eh. It wasn't awful but it certainly wasn't great. It jumped all over the place and the celtic myths and legends got super confusing after a while.

The story follows Teagen and her brother as they discover their world is not as it seems. It turns out their Irish heritage is based more on legend than normal history. Goblins, angels, and shadow men are real and it's up to Teagen and her brother Aiden to team up with their cousin, Finn, (and soon to be love interest... weird) to defeat the Goblins and save their dad.

It's an alright book, but I was not intrigued enough to pick up any of the other books in the series. The characters all act waay older than their age and hardly seemed surprised when their world is turned upside down, totally not believable. Then again neither is anything in this story. It's a great idea but it needed more development or something. The only redeeming thing is the fact that their dad is a kickass librarian. But even that still couldn't save the story. Oh well.

Snow Crash

This is hands down one of the most unique "sci-fi" books I have ever read. It's not really sci-fi perse it's more steam-punk set in a dystopic future America, but hey, kinda same thing right?

This wildly exciting novel is damn hard to describe. Hiro Protagonist a pizza delivery guy for the mafia (yep, in the future Pizza delivery is a serious business. the mafia personally guarantees your pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less) who finds himself teaming up with a young kourier (highly skilled skateboarders that deliver packages for hire) to find out about a new virus called "snow crash" before it brings their highly complex technological world crashing down. This description literally only gets you one tenth of the way though the book. You have to read to find out more! And trust me, you'll want to. This book is soo bizarre and soo fun. It's one of a kind. I will definitely be reading more from this genre!!

Audiobook Review for the Library Journal - Mythology

Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. 12 CDs. unabridged 14 1/2 hours. Hachette Audio. 2013. ISBN 9781611135121.

A masterpiece like no other, Edith Hamilton's Mythology, is a timeless collection of Roman, Greek, and Norse myths that continues to inspire and delight millions. Stories of the gods and heroes are still cornerstones in Western culture and this powerful book weaves many of the classic tales together in one cohesive, engrossing, and thoroughly enthralling collection. The narrator, Suzanne Toren, does an amazing job of delivering this classic in an engaging and insightful manner. Proof that human nature hasn't changed all that drastically, be it through the classic fables or in our own modern society. For fans of ancient history and folklore.