A Book Spree, a new stack, and some musings...

I went to Mr. K's last night to check out the big sale going on there this weekend. I managed to snag some really great books for prices low enough to make me ridiculously giddy. I've always liked to buy my books new, but I have become quite the used books convert during my last few pilgrimages to Mr. K's. I also feel it's my personal responsibility, as well as the community's, to patronize any and all local independent book stores.

Here's a picture of my newest stack:

This may or may not be another symptom of my bibliophilia, but I love to know what motivates people to pick-up/read/buy their books. Is it because a trusted friend told you that you'd like it? Was it a GoodReads suggestion? Are you addicted to that series/author/genre? Even the most trivial reasons interest me. It's my belief that there are no wrong reasons to read a book as long as you take something important away with you from that reading experience. Is your English teacher forcing you to read it? Trying to impress your hipster friends? Convincing your love interest that you have the same tastes? I might giggle at you, but hey, I'm an advocate for reading the written word. If you are reading at all, good for you.

So, why did I pick up these particular books, you ask? Here's the breakdown:

• Cassandra Clare's City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments Book 5)
  I will probably elaborate further on my experience with this series some other time, but for now I will just say I read the first four, and my curiosity is piqued.
• Tina Fey's Bossypants
  I don't read biographies/autobiographies on the regular, but I'm a huge Tina Fey fan, and I heard great things about her memoir and wanted to check it out.
• Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis 1&2
  Always an avid graphic novel reader, I've known about and wanted to read Persepolis for years now. When I found the first 2 books in lovely condition for about $5 a piece, I had to have them.
• Natalie Babbitt's The Search for Delicious
  So, I've slowly been making my way through the books I should have read in my adolescence, and I figure this book is one of them. Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting was the first book to make me truly think. That book blew my ten-year-old mind. Therefor, this little hardcover gem called out to me.
• Creech's Bloomability and Hate That Cat
  No idea what either of them are about. Never heard of them. I just know that my undying loyalty to Creech has grown even stronger since reading and loving Heartbeat a few weeks ago. Here's hoping these two books are just as good.

It looks like I will be adding more books to my summer reading list, putting even more pressure on myself to read all of them in the next few months. Oh well, there are worse goals to have, right?

Book Journal: Carrie Ryan's The Forest of Hands and Teeth

The Forest of Hands and Teeth
By Carrie Ryan

Mini-Summary: Mary, a teenage girl living in an isolated village constantly on the brink of an Unconsecrated (zombie) attack, struggles with her limited choices in life and love. She becomes tangled in a complicated web of love and sacrifice, all while trying to remain alive in a post-apocalyptic world.

Some themes at play within the novel: Love, Friendship, Duty, Honor, Survival, Marriage, Hope, Death, Sacrifice

Some Thoughts (Spoiler-ish, fair warning):
While reading this book, all I could keep thinking was that this story is a cross between M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village and Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. An isolated village protects itself against the horror and death that surrounds its fences, while the occupants have no idea about the true history of the world and what civilization lies outside the forest that surrounds them.

This is a quick, fast-paced read. I honestly don’t have too much to really say about it, since I didn’t find it very original. This is one of those bandwagon Young Adult lit. dystopian/post-apocalyptic books, and it was just a quick fix for me that I could read on my breaks at work.

There is a love triangle/square that is done well. Sacrifice and duty are the big motivating factors behind each character’s decisions, and I think that’s what makes this romance stick out above the other YA lit. romances floating around right now.  I also found the religious aspect interesting; the village survives because of the medieval religious zealousness that rules the masses there.

There are unanswered questions and plot holes that I imagine will be addressed in the following books, but I don’t think this book is enticing enough for me to continue the series. I have so many books on my to-read list as it is.

Favorite Quotes:
“And suddenly I wonder what right we have to believe our childhood dreams will come true. My body aches with this realization. With this truth. It is as if I have cut something important away from myself. The loss is almost overwhelming. Almost enough to make me give up” (104).

“I try not to let the idea of the outside world tingle through my veins. But I cannot help it. On the edge of sleep, when my thoughts are no longer my own but controlled of their own volition, the sound of the ocean comes to me: the rustling of leaves of a hundred thousand trees that surround me, pulsing with the wind as the waves crash over my head. Pulling me under. Tossing my body as if it has no need of bones. Every night I drown and every morning I wake up struggling to breath” (146).

“The Sisterhood has it wrong … It’s not about surviving. It should be about love. When you know love, that’s what makes life worth it. When you live with it every day. Wake up with it, hold on to it during the thunder and after a nightmare. When love is your refuge from the death that surrounds us all and when it fills you so tight that you can’t express it” (155).

“All I can think about is how I have wasted my last day with Travis being angry at him. That I should have spent this day memorizing his face. Counting the freckles on his shoulders … Suddenly, all I can think about are the things I don’t know about him. All the things I never had time to learn. I don’t know if his feet are ticklish or how long his toes are. I don’t know what nightmares he had as a child. I don’t know which stars are his favorites, what shapes he sees in the clouds. I don’t know what he is truly afraid of or what memories he holds closest” (274).

My Rating: 3/5 stars

Information about my copy for my own records:
Publication:  Paperback, Delacorte Press, First Trade Paperback Edition, 2009
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic, Horror, Dystopian, Romance
ISBN: 978-0-385-73682-4