Bookish Utopia: March 2016

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Recent 5 Star Reads

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling

The Passenger by Lisa Lutz

All I Know Now by Carrie Fletcher

Fire by Kristin Cashore

Coal River by Ellen Marie Wiseman

Karens jul (Karen's Christmas) by Amalie Skram

It doesn't have a cover

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Review: Boy Meets Boy

Title: Boy Meets Boy

Author: David Levithan
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Year published: 2003
How I got this book: I borrowed it from one of my friends
My rating: 4 stars

Goodreads synopsis:
This is the story of Paul, a sophomore at high school like no other: The cheerleader ride Harleys, the homecoming queen used to be a guy named Daryl (she now prefers Infinite Darlene and is also the star quarterback), and the gay-straight alliance was formed to help straight kids learn how to dance.

When Paul meets Noah, he thinks he's found the one his heart is made for. Until he blows it. The school bookie says the odds are 12 - to - 1 against him getting Noah back, but Paul's not giving up without playing his love really loud. his best friend Joni might be drifting away, his to her best friend Tony might be dealing with ultra-religious parents, and his ex-boyfriend Kyle might not be going away anytime soon, but sometimes everything needs to fall apart before it can really fit together right.

This is a happy-meaningful romantic comedy about finding love, losing love, and doing what it takes to get love back in a crazy-wonderful world.

My thoughts:
This is my first David Levithan book, and I really liked it. I've read Will Grayson, Will Grayson which he wrote with John Green, so I wasn't completely unfamiliar with his writing before going in to this, and I got what I expected.

This is set in a gay-utopia, and the setting is basically too good to be true. Everyone is accepting in what Paul calls "Paul's Town", except Tony's parents. Though it doesn't seem too realistic, I'm glad Levithan wrote this book. This is how it should be regarding sexuality, nobody should care. Infinite Darlene is a 6"4 transsexual quarterback and homecoming queen. I mean, you go girl!

It take me a couple chapters to really get into it, but that was because I was stressed, not because the book wasn't good. I did however read almost all of it in a day, when I finally had the chance to really read again. I flew through it, and all of a sudden I'd been sitting in the bath for over two hours, and water was cold.

I really liked this book, and I hope there will be more books about homosexuality in the future, if they follow Levithan's lead. It was a normal love story, with the normal complications, without too much focus on the fact that Paul is gay. But still enough to make you aware, and think about how they are treated in this book, and how they would be treated in the real world.

I'm going to tell several of my friends to read it. Not because they need to be more aware, but because I genuinely think it's a great book, and I want them to read it. And I want you to read it as well!

Buy this book?
Amazon (US)
Amazon (UK)
BookDepository (Worldwide, Affiliate link)
Adlibris (Norway)

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Review: The Passenger

Title: The Passenger
Author: Lisa Lutz

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Year published: 2016
How I got this book: I got an arc through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
My rating: 5 stars

Goodreads synopsis:
In case you were wondering, I didn't do it. I didn't have anything to do with Frank's death. I don't have an alibi, so you have to take my word for it...

Forty-eight hours after leaving her husband's body at the base of the stairs, Tanya Dubois cashes in her credit cards, dyes her hair brown, demands a new name from a shadowy voice over the phone, and flees town. It's not the first time.

She meets Blue, a female bartender who recognizes the hunted look in a fugitive's eyes and offers her a place to stay. With dwindling choices, Tanya-now-Amelia accepts. An uneasy - and dangerous - alliance is born.

It's almost impossible to live of the grid today, but Amelia-now-Debra and Blue have the courage, the ingenuity, and the desperation, to try. Hopscotching from city to city, Debra especially is chased by a very dark secret...can she outrun her past?

My thoughts:
As previously mentioned, I got this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The release date is March 1st, Tuesday this week. This review will not contain any spoilers.

I've never read a book like this before. It's a mysterious thriller, and it definitely fit the genre. I never knew what to expect when I read this book, and I kept getting surprised with every chapter. So much stuff happened, and there was never a boring moment.

The main character in this book, who starts out as Tanya Dubois, is one of the most interesting characters I've ever met. I wasn't really able to relate to her, because her life is so completely different from mine, but that didn't really matter. I still felt connected to her, and I understood why she did (almost) everything throughout the book. The fact that this book is written in first-person also helps a lot, as we are able to really get inside her head.

We meet plenty of characters throughout the book, and I generally liked all of them. Liked may be the wrong word, but I enjoyed reading about them.

The plot is incredibly fast paced, and as a reader you never know exactly what is happening. Lutz uses a mix of the present, backstory and e-mails (to which we have no context) to tell this story, and you're always off balance. You can't draw the lines between the different characters, because you don't know they're connected.

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. It's not a genre I normally read, but after reading this I want more. I flew through it in a couple of days, and I couldn't stop thinking about the book. To be honest, I still can't stop thinking about it. That's how you know a book is really good. This is definitely a book I will recommend to others, even if this genre isn't your cup of tea.

Buy this book?
Amazon (US)
Amazon (UK)
BookDepository (worldwide, affiliate link)
Adlibris (Norway)