Friday Favorites #5

This week I'm highlighting my 8 favorite book quotes from this year. Enjoy!

“I want to tell her not to speak, want to say it, but her lips are on mine again and I taste me and I taste her and I don't taste what we're saying and I don't taste Noah. I taste Camus—I owe to such evenings the idea I have of innocence.”

“In my mind I am eloquent; I can climb intricate scaffolds of words to reach the highest cathedral ceilings and paint my thoughts. But when I open my mouth, everything collapses.” 

“My eyes break open. Two shattered windows filling my mouth with glass.”

“Hello and good-bye are not as simple as everyone thinks.” 

“Cushions had been sliced apart and were bleeding stuffing onto the floor.” 

“I'd choked back so many tears, they'd become a lake of sadness in my belly.” 

“The story you choose to tell isn't always the story you believe.”

“Colt has the subtlety of a car alarm.”

What are some of your favorite book quotes of the year?

Friday Favorites #4

Okay, so mostly this post was inspired by the first trailer, because I just got home and could finally watch it with sound and really it's just amazing. I want more like this! The last trailer, for Cryer's Cross, totally creeps me out. I really need to read that book!

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Friday Favorites #3

So this week I though I'd share with you some of my favorite 2011 fictional characters. There have been some that just stuck with me throughout the year, and try as I might I can't forget them.

Gideon from Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz
 Really, how could you not adore Gideon? He was the life of the novel. He was one of those supporting characters, that carries the weight of the novel on his shoulders. Without him this would have practically just been a summer read of love and sex and beach scenes. Gideon (and Camus) gave so much depth to this novel. I mean the first line is "Gideon keeps falling down." Gideon's deafness made his family have to try harder to communicate with him and thusly they found many new ways to communicate. This book wasn't only about Gideon, but damn it, he was the very heart of this novel. I would love, love, love to see this book correctly turned into a movie, to see the perfect Gideon on screen with his charismatic hands would just be phenomenal. Moskowitz wrote the best character when she penned Gideon into these pages.

R from Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
Alright, so I was already head over heels for R when I was reading this book. Yes, his dreaminess was somewhat stifled by his rotting flesh, but boy was he charming. There was just something about him that drew me into him and made me want him to be a better person, and less of a decomposing corpse. Now, I do not think I could control my excitement when I heard that they were making this into a movie(actually into a movie not just buying rights). On top of the awesomeness of it becoming a movie, Nicholas Hoult would be playing R. I love the 1st season of Skins and a lot of it was Nicholas Hoult. Yeah, he was kinda a complete dick, but he is cute and just has charm shooting out of him. I can not wait to see him portray R, I am quite certain I will fall in love with that character all over again.

Keek from And Then Things Fall Apart by Arlaina Tibensky
Oh Keek you spunky, Plath obsessed girl. Lying in your sick bed, spewing nonsense from a typewriter. Despite the itchy pox, it sounds like the dream-life. I loved reading her maniac, fever-induced rants about Esther and Slyvia Plath, and her cheating father. I mean "Cute as a fucking button. Esther/Sylvia was as serious as a nuclear bomb."  These are fantastic lines and I really just loved Keek the whole time. Screw her family, who falls apart around her. Screw her boyfriend who doesn't understand. I know in my review I do talk about the grandmother as being my favorite and in a way she was, but Keek is the relateable character that I think back and chuckle about. 

Evan from Every You, Every Me by David Levithan
Okay, so I know I just read this book, but I already know that I'm going to be thinking of quirky Evan and the bizarre mystery he was forced to unravel. He was a very odd duck, but there was just something about him that made me want to take care of him. I wanted to be his friend so I could hold his hand while he faces the horrors and pain of missing someone he was so close to. I hope I could be a better friend than Ariel was, at the very least a bit more sane than her. He was a quite kid and I imagine it would be very interesting to lie out under the stars with him and converse about the universe. Evan seems like the guy who doesn't feel like he has to hide his thoughts and emotions as long as you have earned his trust. Some guys are always closed off with only the smallest windows of honesty. Evan is an open book, who carries a lot with him.

Clare from Clarity by Kim Harrington
I really liked Clare, because she was a character who started off with knowing about her abilities and it made her much more believable and likable. I appreciate that she didn't stumble upon her ability in a confusing series of mishaps, which I guess is more Kim Harrington's doing than Clare's. Regardless, Clare was a kind character who was willing to try and help with her powers. I like that Clare didn't sit around brooding and whining about how unfair life is. This was a great book anyways, and I often find myself comparing Clare's character to other similar characters that always seem to fall short.

Friday Favorites #2

So this week I thought I'd feature some of my favorite covers of the year. Some will be books that are out already and some will be upcoming titles. Each of these really caught my eye. The images are striking and the colors perfect. Some are hilarious and some are dark and creepy.  Every single one made me want the book badly, regardless of what it was about. What are some of your favorite covers?

Friday Favorites

So I thought that today I would talk about some of my favorite books I've read this year. 2011 was really a fantastic YA year thus far, and there are tons of books I'm looking forward to in the fall. For now, I thought I'd share some of the books I think you have to read before summer is over.

Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz was amazing. It had all the best elements of writing packed into a book with a powerful punch. The characters still visit me in my dreams, and I find myself thinking of Chase and Camus often. When I see someone signing, I immediately picture Gideon's tiny, defiant hands communicating thoughts way beyond his years. Few books stay in my mind like this one did. "I want to tell her not to speak, want to say it, but her lips are on mine again and I taste me and I taste her and I don't taste what we're saying and I don't taste Noah. I taste Camus—I owe to such evenings the idea I have of innocence."

Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma was a bizzarre story with so many twists and turns that you were delightfully tangled until you read the last words. The dynamic between the two sisters was perfect and they both shined. I often think of the town and the strange events that took place there. I think of the underwater city with people who refused to move on, even when their lives were in danger. Ruby's character not only enchanted the people within the story, I too find myself entranced and thinking of her words. Ruby was just a creature all her own with weird ideas and a supernatural charisma.  Nova Ren Suma is an author I will be keeping my eye on."...I sat there in the boat under her stars and her moon, gated on all sides by the mountains, watching the last bits of her breath float up and away."

Don't Stop Now by Julie Halpern is the third book of Julie's and the one I love the best. The character's in this story fell together with an effortless air about them. They bantered without a single forced comment. Lillian and Josh were just hilarious and fantastic, and I am a sucker for the whole road-trip/growing as a person metaphor. This was a great journey with an interesting destination and nobody's expectation were in the right places. I really thought this was the best road-trip book I've read. "I'm on my knees in the woodchips, trying to make sense of the Penny messages."

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Cathrynne M. Valente, has a title that leaves you winded and a story that leaves you breathless. This story was so much more fun then I could've imagined. September was just such an interesting girl and the whole of fairyland was not what I expected at all. At times it was downright frightening hearing of the odd things she encountered. The Wyvern she befriends is a good sort too and I enjoyed his knowledge of all things beginning with a letter from the first part of the alphabet."(It is well known that reading quickens the growth of a heart like nothing else.)"

And Then Things Fall Apart by Arlaina Tibensky is the ultimate book to reread, especially if you are feeling under the weather. Keek has chicken pox throughout the novel, and that makes her a little delirious, but come to fantastic conclusion about life. At least she doesn't have to worry about how sick her life makes her, when the chicken pox makes her scratch away. I loved listening to Keek rattle on about Sylvia Plath and her Bell Jar. This book will make you smile whether you are feeling a bit ill or just in need of a fantastic story. "Cute as a fucking button. Esther/Sylvia was as serious as a nuclear bomb."

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray is the bonus book this round, because it was completely hilarious. Seriously, everyone should read this book, unless you are easily offended. This book might offended you, but mostly only if you're a corporate schmuck or a certain dimwitted governor of a certain far away state. Regardless, this book had so many laugh out loud moments that you will not want to read this in public. "'What kind of person doesn't let you have gummi bears?'"