Nose in a Book

I'm a 27 year old reader and dreamer working in the publishing industry. I live in Toronto with my cat and some books.
paper-ink-blood-words: “ The Book Thief by dangweflyy on Flickr. ”

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The Book Thief by dangweflyy on Flickr.

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Book Review: Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty This review will contain some spoilers pertaining to Sloppy Firsts, the first book in the series. It’s the summer before senior year and Jessica Darling is at a special summer camp for gifted youth....

Book Review: Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty

This review will contain some spoilers pertaining to Sloppy Firsts, the first book in the series.

It’s the summer before senior year and Jessica Darling is at a special summer camp for gifted youth. Jess’ writing for the school paper earned her a place, but in all honesty she’s only attending to help herself forget about Marcus Flutie. While Jess still doesn’t think she is a writer (no matter what her teachers say) the summer has helped her make a major life decision about her future. To Jess, deciding which college to go to is the biggest decision she will make in her young life, and she has finally settled on Columbia. But when school starts again and the unthinkable happens on September 11th, Jess isn’t sure if New York is safe anymore. As Jess and everyone else tries to move on and go back to normal, Jess is surprised by how quickly that happens. The Clueless Two are the same as always, although Sara managed to lose some weight and Manda found an unlikely new boyfriend. And, surprisingly, the one person that Jess wants to forget seems to be trying to set her up with the new and improved Len Levi. As senior year comes to an end, Jess will have to decide what she wants for her future, and who she wants to spend it with.

The second book in the Jessica Darling series takes place from the summer of 2001 to Jess’ graduation in 2002. I am often wary of sequels, but there was no need for that with Second Helpings. I liked this book even better than the first. A semester has passed since Sloppy Firsts ended, and Jess is still not talking to Marcus Flutie. Let me just say, I love Hope. We learn that she was okay with Jessica lying to her and liking Marcus, and actually wants them together. She’s the character we see the least of, but I love her to death. I also love Bridget, a former member of the Clueless Crew. While at first we see Bridget as just an insecure and beautiful girl, but we get to see her as a real person in this book. It was also sad to see how much Scottie has changed since the beginning of Sloppy Firsts. Jess is pretty much the same as ever, although a bit more sex obsessed in this book. This book was a smoother read than the first book, and it never felt like it was dragging along, unlike Sloppy Firsts. There were a lot of fun additions to this book, such as Gladie. This book takes place during the 2001 school year, and 9/11 occurs early on in the book. Jess is shocked and terrified when she finds out what happens, but it is one of the rare times that she is speechless. It wasn’t as heart wrenching as it could have been, but this book was more emotional than the last. I do think that some things were predictable, such as the identity of the writer of Pineville Low, but I suppose it makes sense that Jess doesn’t catch onto these things at first because she is pretty self involved. I’m interested in how Jess will change in the third book and what her college life will be like. Overall, this was an entertaining and quick read full of fun and drama.

4/5

“You, yes, you, linger inside my heart, The same you who stopped us before we could start.”

book review  
6 years ago 1 note
Book Review: A Year Without Autumn by Liz Kessler Jenni is looking forward to spending the end of her summer vacation with her family at their timeshare apartment. While it’s great to get away, she also gets to spend the last weeks of summer with her...

Book Review: A Year Without Autumn by Liz Kessler

Jenni is looking forward to spending the end of her summer vacation with her family at their timeshare apartment. While it’s great to get away, she also gets to spend the last weeks of summer with her best friend Autumn and her family. Autumn is the best friend Jenni could wish for: she’s exciting while Jenni is cautious. After Jenni takes a ride in the rickety old elevator in their building, she knocks on Autumn’s apartment door only to find someone else living there. Although it might seem impossible, Jenni seems to have travelled a year in the future. It seems unimaginable to Jenni, but something has happened in the last year that has put a wedge in Jenni and Autumn’s friendship. As Jenni keeps travelling further into the future, she sees everything she knows unravel each year. While her friendship with Autumn once seemed indestructible, a tragic event has distanced them and Jenni actually went a year without talking to Autumn. Was it really worth it for Jenni to see the future and is it set in stone?

I love time travel and was looking forward to A Year Without Autumn, but once I started reading this book and realized that the main character was twelve, I wasn’t so sure anymore. As the story started to unfold, I was sure I knew what was going to happen. Autumn’s bossy ways and Jenni’s belief that she didn’t deserve her best friend would push them apart. As it turns out, things were much more complicated than this. As Jenni tries to piece together what happened to ruin her friendship with Autumn, she finds out that a tragic event occurred on the very day she travelled to the future. As she travels into the future a year at a time, she finds that this event didn’t just affect her friendship with Autumn but her whole family as well. This aspect of the plot was touching and made me emotionally invested in the story. The characters also proved to be less superficial than they first appeared. As I said, I love time travel. Some of the particulars of the time travel made my head spin and I think there were a few things that didn’t make sense. However, the overall affect worked well. Another thing I didn’t like was the character of Mrs. Smith: that plotline felt a bit forced to me. Of course, a few flaws doesn’t stop me from liking a book. I easily found myself wrapped up in the story and sitting on the edge of my seat, wondering what would happen next. A Year Without Autumn is not only about time travel and fantasy, but also about friendship and family. It’s a great read for younger readers looking for a story about friendship and growing up with a twist.

3.5/5

book review  
6 years ago 4 notes

Book Review: Second Chance Summer

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Author: Morgan Matson

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: May 8th, 2012

Genre: YA, Realistic Fiction

Taylor Edwards hasn’t been to the family summerhouse in five years, since she was twelve. Her tendency to run away when things get hard ruined her relationship with her first crush and best friend, making the summer house the last place she wanted to return to. But when Taylor’s dad is diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer, he wants the whole family to return to the summerhouse. Taylor and her family get along all right, but being forced into such close proximity for the summer isn’t something Taylor is looking forward to. The past is waiting for her when she returns, but the two months at the summerhouse might not be the torture Taylor anticipated but a summer of second chances. As she reconnects with old friends and grows closer with her family, Taylor will have to learn that there are some things you can’t run away from.

A summer read with depth and full of heart, this is the second novel by Morgan Matson. Full of romance and with a summer setting, this novel is primarily about family and dealing with loss. After reading Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour, I was left wanting to read anything else by Morgan Matson. Second Chance Summer didn’t disappoint and was just as emotional and entertaining. I read this book on vacation where it at least felt like summer, and it made a good reading companion. The plot was simple but was carried out well, with good pacing and writing. The reason for Taylor not wanting to return to the summerhouse and for her losing her friends was a bit ridiculous and blown out of proportion, especially five years later. Still, the relationships between the characters and how they were developed throughout the story will make it stand out in my memory later on. Second Chance Summer is a story about growth and second chances that is a perfect book to start of any summer.

3.5/5

“And I’ve realized that the Beatles got it wrong. Love isn’t all we need—love is all there is.”

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5 years ago 7 notes
Book Review: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together by Bryan Lee O’Malley It’s summer in Toronto and Scott Pilgrim is finally going to get it together. He’s going to start by finally getting a job and stop freeloading off his roommate, Wallace Wells. And he...

Book Review: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together by Bryan Lee O’Malley

It’s summer in Toronto and Scott Pilgrim is finally going to get it together. He’s going to start by finally getting a job and stop freeloading off his roommate, Wallace Wells. And he may even step things up with Ramona by finally breaking out the ‘L word.’ Things are still complicated for Scott: he’s had a bit of a break from fighting Ramona’s seven evil exes, but he still has four to defeat. And who is the strange older man who has been trying to kill Scott with a samurai sword? Scott and Ramona are having a few problems in their relationship that are actually not related to someone trying to kill them. Scott’s upset that he knows next to nothing about Ramona, including how old she actually is. When Scott’s high school friend Lisa Miller is back in town, he’ll find out that even Ramona gets jealous sometimes. Will Scott be able to get it together while working to defeat Ramona’s fourth ex?

As the fourth volume begins, Scott and his friends are at a party in The Beaches. The first few pages were actually in colour, which was very cool. This volume also began with a one-page summary of the who’s who, and I liked having that refresher. Overall, this was my second favourite in the series so far (nothing beats the first.) It’s hard to say exactly what I liked about it. There was less fighting in this volume, and we aren’t introduced to Ramona’s fourth ex until towards the end. Roxie was an awesome villain, although Matthew Patel will always be my favourite due to the pirate outfit and the singing. I liked how Gets It Together focused a lot on Scott and Ramona’s relationship. In some ways, this book felt a little more mature than the others in the series, since Scott is slowly getting things together. He gets a job, learns more about Ramona and I liked how this book was focused a fair bit on that as well as the battles. Although, Scott is still self-absorbed and clueless, so nothing’s changed in some ways. I said before that I prefer book-Ramona to movie-Ramona, since she seems more like a real person. I still feel that way, although Ramona has some moments in this volume when she annoyed me. I still like her as a whole, though. I can understand why Scott is willing to fight for her.

Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together was exciting and quite funny. It made me want to read volume five very badly. These books are creative and very entertaining and I’m having a lot of fun reading them. Although a good part of this book is focusing on things aside from the main plot, you could still see it slowly building up to the penultimate book in the series. What was it that Scott saw in Ramona’s head and why did it make her so upset? Who are the next three evil exes and will Scott be able to defeat them? Who is Gideon and why did he form the league? Will Scott and Ramona be able to make it work when the whole world seems to be against them? I will definitely be reading Scott Pilgrim Vs. The Universe to find out.

4.5/5

“Scott, if your life had a face, I would punch it. I would punch your life in the face.”

book review   scott pilgrim  
7 years ago 9 notes

Book Review: Bridge to Terabithia

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Author: Katherine Paterson

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publication Date: 1977

Genre: Junior Fiction, Realistic Fiction

The summer Jess Aarons is ten is spent running every morning so that he can be the fastest kid in the fifth grade. But all his hard work is put to waste when his new neighbor Leslie Burke beats him. Leslie’s parents are wealthy artists and she’s from a world that is nothing like Jess’ small town. As their friendship begins, Leslie takes Jess to another world that they created together, where they can be anyone they want to be.

My fourth grade teacher read Bridge to Terabithia to us and I finally reread it on my own fourteen years later. This Newbery winner is a classic and a book that I think a lot people expect to be fantasy. Instead, Bridge to Terabithia just feels magical. Leslie and Jess create a world that is completely their own, which helps block out the kids at school and problems at home. I think this book captures the magical side of childhood and the spark of imagination while also looking at the darker side of things. The writing is beautiful although I found it to be a bit slow moving. I’ve seen the movie so many times that it sort of blocked my memory of the book, but I was surprised by how much more I loved Leslie. She was just so smart and mature, yet at the same time she was a secret troublemaker. Jess is also realistic and well written. I think that Katherine Paterson isn’t afraid to write honest and flawed characters. With a story that no one will forget and characters that feel real, this is an enjoyable and timeless book for anyone.

5/5

“Sometimes it seemed to him that his life was delicate as a dandelion. One little puff from any direction, and it was blown to bits.”

book review  
5 years ago 24 notes
Book Review: Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan When Alice Kelleher’s husband Daniel told her he had won a piece of land in a bet, she had very low expectations about his prize. She was surprised when he showed her the beautiful waterfront property in...

Book Review: Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan

When Alice Kelleher’s husband Daniel told her he had won a piece of land in a bet, she had very low expectations about his prize. She was surprised when he showed her the beautiful waterfront property in Maine that was now theirs. Alice’s three children would spend every summer at the summerhouse, which was often full of various relatives. Sixty years later, Alice has been a widow for ten years and the summerhouse is still loved by her family. Her three children and their families each have a designated month to be there, while Alice stays all summer. Alice is eighty-three, and has made a drastic decision about the fate of the summerhouse. Alice can be cruel one moment and charming the next, and has taken refuge in alcohol in the years following her husband’s death. She is completely devoted to the Catholic Church, in part due her regrets from years ago. Kathleen is Alice’s oldest daughter and Daniel’s favourite. However, her and Alice have a very poor relationship. In the ten years since Daniel’s death, Kathleen hasn’t been to Maine. A recovering alcoholic, she lives on a worm farm in California with her partner. Her daughter, Maggie, is 32 and ready to make a major commitment that her slacker boyfriend isn’t willing to make. Ann Marie married into the Kelleher family, and has the best relationship with Alice. She appears to be the perfect wife, mother and grandmother. However, she is filled with frustration when her grown children disappoint her, and distracts herself with her obsession with dollhouses and an inappropriate crush. These four very different women find themselves together in Maine one summer and will have to get past their past feuds.

I read this book almost entirely at the beach, which was probably the best way to read Maine, since it’s definitely a beach read. The book centres around a dysfunctional Irish Catholic family and their relationships and past mistakes. Of the four main characters, only Maggie was in any way likable. It was frustrating how selfish and bitter the characters could be, but it was still interesting to learn about their pasts. Sullivan did a good job of building suspense about Alice’s past, and the flashbacks throughout the novel did a good job of showing how the family got to be where they are. I was most engaged with the past plotlines, and the book succeeded at making me feel emotional about Daniel’s death at some points. There were too many loose ends as the novel concluded, and a lot of things didn’t feel resolved to me. But, overall, I liked Maine. It’s definitely a good book to read on summer holidays, ideally at the beach. There were some flaws, but I enjoyed it and found myself very interested in the Kelleher family.

3/5

“What made people and pleased them, and threatened to ultimately ruin them, was love. Not romantic love, necessarily, but the love of something, the thing that defined your life.”

Book Review  
7 years ago 2 notes
“Book Review: Withering Tights by Louise Rennison” “Fourteen-year-old Tallulah Casey is spending the summer at a performing arts college in Yorkshire. After receiving some advice from her cousin Georgia (yes, that Georgia,) she heads up North to...
Book Review: Withering Tights by Louise Rennison
Fourteen-year-old Tallulah Casey is spending the summer at a performing arts college in Yorkshire. After receiving some advice from her cousin Georgia (yes, that Georgia,) she heads up North to Dother Hall, which the brochure claims is “world-renowned for its excellence in the Arts. This magnificent centre of artistry is set amongst the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. With its friendly northern folk offering a warm welcome to visitors, think Wuthering Heights but with less moaning!” After applying too late for the dorms, Tallulah is staying with the Dobbins family in a very squirrely bedroom. Free for the first time from her parents, she quickly makes friends with a group of eccentric girls and meets some cute boys as well. Despite some disastrous acting attempts (including an Irish jig and a bicycle ballet) she finds herself loving Dother Hall, even though she only applied in the first place just for something to do. Some of the summer attendees will be selected to attend the college permanently, and Tallulah doesn’t know what she will do if she’s not chosen. But how will she possibly be selected when she’s not as talented as the other girls and has freakishly long legs and knobbly knees? Will she be able to prove her talent in a comedic production of Wuthering Heights?
Withering Tights is the first book in Louise Rennison’s new series, Misadventures of Tallulah Casey. Fans of Georgia Nicolson will not be disappointed by the antics of Tallulah and her mates. Like Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging, this book is hilarious and bizarre in the best way possible. With a great cast of characters, I was quickly drawn into life at Dother Hall. I actually ended up liking the tree sisters better than the ace gang (although the boys in this book can’t rival Robbie and Dave the Laugh.) Tallulah’s friends are completely mad and I love it. When she was introduced as Georgia’s younger cousin, I was a bit worried that Tallulah would be a carbon copy of G. However, this wasn’t the case at all. I love Georgia, but Tallulah is a lot nicer than her. And less self involved. They have completely different personalities (despite the fact that they’re both insane) and I love them both. Rennison’s unique writing style and brand of humour is ever present in this book, and it definitely succeeded in making me laugh.
If you haven’t read any of Louise Rennison’s books yet, I should warn you that there will be a lot of slang used (there’s a very funny glossary in the US edition). This is one of the things I really liked, since some of the slang used really adds to the humour of the book. This book doesn’t have much of a plot, but it never really mattered to me. The characters and the humour were enough to keep me reading. One criticism I have is that it was a bit too similar to the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series, with body troubles, crazy mates and boys. There were a lot of similarities, and hopefully the other books in the series will show more originality.
Overall, this was a promising start to a new series. Although targeted at younger teens, this book can be enjoyed by anyone who loves a laugh. I’m in my twenties and I loved it. If you’re looking for a fun and quirky read, I’d really recommend Withering Tights.
4/5
“He was soooo lovely. And well, gorgeous. He had everything a dream boy should have. Back, front sides. Everything. A head. And all in a boy shape.”
angus thongs and full frontal snogging   georgia nicolson   louise rennison   tallulah casey   withering tights   Book Review  
7 years ago 19 notes

Book Review: Where Things Come Back

imageAuthor: John Corey Whaley
Publisher: Atheneum Books For Young Readers
Publication Date: May 3rd, 2011
Genre: YA, Realistic Fiction

The way Cullen Witter sees it, everyone is looking for someone, at least in the small town of Lily, Arkansas, where he lives. That couldn’t be more true than during the summer Cullen is seventeen, when everyone in town is looking for the Lazarus Woodpecker, which was supposed to be extinct and has allegedly been spotted in Lily. Everyone is obsessed with the woodpecker, because in a town no one can seem to escape from, the Lazarus gives them hope. There are people who are always looking for their destiny and there are people who have lost someone and will always be looking for that person in everyone they meet. Cullen is looking for himself, and just wants to know why he does the things the things he does. But everything changes when his younger brother Gabriel goes missing. Suddenly nothing makes sense and the bird that was just an annoyance and maybe the savior of his hometown is now distracting everyone from Gabriel’s disappearance. As the town searches for the woodpecker in a frenzy and the Witter family searches for Gabriel, Cullen can’t help but wonder if what everyone is saying about the Lazarus woodpecker is true and Lily really is the place where things come back.

Often I feel like there are so many books I have to read and so little time to actually read them. Lately I’ve been feeling the opposite: that I’ve already read all the good books and there isn’t anything else left. Now, I know that this isn’t true, but I still have been feeling this way. Thankfully, Where Things Come Back got me out of my rut. To put it simply, this is a very good book. I’m going to update my “Books for Fans of John Green List” by adding this book to the list. It is John Corey Whaley’s first novel, and I thought that it was well written, while being original and perceptive. The plot was well constructed, and the characters were realistic and full of depth. In a town where everyone tries to fit people into a bubble or a label, Whaley wrote characters that broke free of this and were more than what people saw them as. There were a lot of little things I liked about this book, like Cullen’s never ending list of book titles, the themes and the symbolism. How everything came together in the end was very satisfying, and I thought that the plot was cleverly planned out. The one thing that bothered me while reading was Cullen’s habit of referring to himself in the third person. It worked well at first but it quickly got repetitive. I liked the way it made him sound detached from everything, but having him do it repeatedly annoyed me. All the same, this book was incredibly insightful story about loss and hope.

4/5

“When I asked him the meaning of life, Dr. Webb got very quiet and then told me life has no one meaning, it only has whatever meaning each of us puts on our own life. I’ll tell you now that I still don’t know the meaning of mine.”

book review  
6 years ago 15 notes
Book Review: This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen Remy has just graduated from high school and is looking forward to attending Stanford in the fall. As the summer begins, Remy is finishing the planning of her mother’s fourth wedding since her marriage to...

Book Review: This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen

Remy has just graduated from high school and is looking forward to attending Stanford in the fall. As the summer begins, Remy is finishing the planning of her mother’s fourth wedding since her marriage to Remy’s dad. Her musician father died when she was a toddler, before he could even meet her. The only thing he ever gave her was the song, “This Lullaby.” To Remy, the song is a reminder that her father was the first man to let her down. While Remy has had her fair share of boyfriends, she always sticks to her rules about dating, which involve breaking up before she can get hurt. If her mother’s failed marriages have taught her anything, it’s that all relationships are doomed to fail, and Remy believes it’s safer to end things sooner rather than later. When Remy starts dating Dexter, the fearless optimist, she finds herself breaking her own rules for the first time. Dexter is a clumsy musician who is nothing like the boys Remy usually dates. His mother has also had a number of failed marriages, which have had the opposite effect on him. While Remy is cynical and uptight, Dexter has become mellow and easy going from having so many different father figures in his life. In the summer in-between her old life and her new life in college, Remy just wants a fling that doesn’t mean anything. Dexter is the one boy that never fit into Remy’s rules, and he’s also the one boy she might be able to love. Falling in love is a risk that Remy has been avoiding her whole life, and Dexter might be the one person who can help her have faith in relationships.

Earlier this week I went to a book signing for Sarah Dessen in Toronto. One of the questions from the audience was which one of her books was her favourite, and Sarah said that This Lullaby was the most fun to write. This made me very excited to go home and read it, since I already (by chance) had it checked out from the library. So far, this is my favourite of Sarah Dessen’s books. The writing is as good as ever, and despite the slow start I found myself completely absorbed in this book by about page 50. While it’s often a fast paced plot that makes me not want to stop reading, this wasn’t the case in This Lullaby. The book focuses primarily on relationships and the characters, so it isn’t exactly plot heavy. Instead, it was the characters that drew me in. Remy was very different from the other protagonists in the books I’ve read by Sarah Dessen. Her friends call her a “cold and bitter bitch.” She’s recently quit smoking, drinking excessively and sleeping around. She takes control of situations, and she isn’t afraid to stand up to people. The Truth About Forever and Just Listen were both about girls who appear to be perfect, and Remy was a refreshing change from that. I can see why some readers would find her unlikable and difficult, but I found her to be a complex character that is a little rough around the edges. I found myself wanting to know more about her background, such as why she decided to change her life style and quit partying. I also wanted to learn more about her life with her different stepfathers. However, as a whole, I thought she was very real. Before I start talking about Dexter, I should mention that I’m not one of those people who are constantly falling in love with fictional characters. My friends will often read a book and tell me how they wish the male lead was their boyfriend, and I very seldom feel that way. Of course, Dexter seems to be the exception. I love him so much. He’s just so lovely and unlike so many of the boys I read about. I loved Dexter and Remy and their “natural chemistry.” I was really rooting for them to be together. The supporting characters were great, including Dexter’s band mates and Remy’s best friends. I found the characters in this novel to be interesting and realistic. They drew me in, and are a huge part of the reason I loved this book.

When I can’t find anything to read, I know I can always count on one of Sarah Dessen’s novels to be a quick and light read that will always cheer me up. With a simple story that rings true and great characters, her stories always feel relevant to my life, even if on the surface I have little in common with the characters. Dessen’s fans will not be disappointed by This Lullaby, and I’d recommend it to fans of YA romance and chick lit.

4/5

“Some things don’t last forever, but some things do. Like a good song, or a good book, or a good memory you can take out and unfold in your darkest times, pressing down on the corners and peering in close, hoping you still recognize the person you see there.“

book review   sarah dessen   this lullaby   YA   books   lit   reading  
7 years ago 20 notes

Book Review: The Magician

imageAuthor: Lev Grossman
Publisher: Viking
Publication Date: August 11th, 2009
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy

Quentin’s mind has always been in the Fillory and Further books he loved as a child. Everyone has read about the Chatwin children and the magical world they found in their summer home. While most people grow out of the books, at seventeen Quentin still wishes he could live in them. He’s always felt like his life should take place outside of Brooklyn, and he is finally proven right when he is accepted into Brakebills school of magic. There, Quentin learns how to become a magician. This world of magic should be everything Quentin ever wanted, but he’s still left wanting more. When Quentin learns that Fillory could be real, he and his friends venture into the magical world of their childhood fantasy, and find that it’s much darker than it is in the stories.

John Green recommended this book for grown up fans of Harry Potter, and I have to agree. The Magicians is the perfect book for anyone who has wished they could live in another world they find only in books, whether that’s Hogwarts, Narnia or Middle-earth. I really enjoyed this fast paced novel that sucks you in and makes you really wish the Fillory books were real. Part of the fun of the book is the buildup to Quentin’s discovery of Fillory, which you know is going to happen. While you can’t help comparing Brakebills and Fillory to other world’s in other books, I liked seeing where Grossman took both of these places, through the themes and the storyline. The characters greatly contrasted archetypes of the genre, being very flawed and realistic. I really enjoyed the complexity and darkness of the magic. While the story could be predictable, part of the fun was the buildup to what you knew was going to happen. Just because you’re an adult doesn’t mean you have forgotten the fantasy worlds you used to yearn for, and The Magicians is the perfect book for anyone that feels this way.

5/5

“I got my heart’s desire, and there my troubles began.”

book review  
6 years ago 34 notes