Don’t Judge a Book By Its Genre

Judging a book by its cover is a common thing that we all know about, and have probably been a part of. But judging a book by the genre feels like a common but rarely talked about problem. Although this can be applied outside of YA, I’m talking about “discriminating” between genres like contemporary YA and dystopic YA, or paranormal YA and romance YA. I’ve unknowingly done it time and time again. I seem to discriminate against contemporary books the most. I don’t remember a time when it’s ACTUALLY caused me not to read a book I’m really interested in, but there are other books that I didn’t give a chance initially because of their genre (and cover). I think a main reason is because I think it’s going to be too serious. Sometimes books are a way to escape, so I don’t want to read a book about abuse or suicide, which is not to say that they’re always about really difficult and serious issues. But as far as the serious topics, I’ve rarely considered that they also come up many times in other genres. I also initially seemed to think that if a book was about something serious, that it was going to be extremely boring. In 2010 I definitely learned my lesson, after finding two new favorite books, which just happened to both be contemporary novels (Paper Towns and Please Ignore Vera Dietz). I’ve already gotten better! I hate to admit it, but I didn’t want to read Jellicoe Road because I didn’t like the cover, and it was a contemporary novel (what was I thinking?). I can’t believe I ever let that govern my choice to read it, but it’s now one of my top books to read in 2011. I can’t wait to see what other books I’ve been missing out on! Am I alone in judging books this way? Do you do it too? Have you done it in the past? Let me know!

What are you reading on Mondays?

Book(s) read last week:
Legacies by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill

Currently reading:
Clarity by Kim Harrington


Upcoming reads:
Allison Hewitt is Trapped by Madeleine Roux

In My Mailbox 52

 This meme was started by TheStorySiren

I'm soo excited for all the cool books I got this week! I bought most of these at my local indie store (they were having a good week!). I've heard so much about Before I fall that I was dying to get it, and I enjoyed the Percy Jackson series, so I had to get The Lost Hero. Keturah and the Lord of Death is one of the books Maggie Stiefvater did  review on, and she made it sound really interesting. I received a copy of Red Moon Rising (yay) and thought of Mulan when I saw Daughter of Xanadu. The Book Smugglers reviewed Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer, so OF COURSE I wanted it.

What did you get this week?!

Please Ignore Vera Dietz review

Description: Vera’s spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie Kahn. And over the years she’s kept a lot of his secrets. Even after he betrayed her. Even after he ruined everything.

So when Charlie dies in dark circumstances, Vera knows a lot more than anyone—the kids at school, his family, even the police. But will she emerge to clear his name? Does she even want to?

Edgy and gripping, Please Ignore Vera Dietz is an unforgettable novel: smart, funny, dramatic, and always surprising.

My thoughts: I didn’t look at too many reviews for this book, but it wasn’t hard to tell that a lot of people loved it. I saw it online and decided to buy it. I had no intention of reading it anytime soon. But once it got to my house, it called out to me and I had to read it. Looking back, it’s so amazing that I started 2010 with Paper Towns (a favorite!) by John Green, and ended 2010 with Please Ignore Vera Dietz (another favorite). Initially with King switching from past to present, and giving people like Vera’s father their own chapter, I was concerned it wouldn’t flow. But everything worked, from Vera’s father’s flow charts, to the talking pagoda, and transitions from past to present. King successfully goes back and forth between past and present, even though I initially thought it was a bad idea.  Sometimes I’d finish a chapter based in the past only to find that the next chapter was also set in the past. At first I thought, “No, this is too much of the past, I’ll get tired of it pretty soon.” But then she’d reveal something important and startling, and I’d say a quick sorry in regards to assuming King couldn’t write a good past tense chapter.

Seeing as how this has now been deemed one of my favorite books, you’d think it would be happier. It’s not. It’s sad and depressing with humor sprinkled in between, but so are little sections of our life. Of course, having a dead best friend that wasn’t even a friend let along best friend before he died doesn’t make you want to sing Glee songs while skipping down the road (lol I don’t know where that image came from). Especially when you find out, as you read that the situation was much worse than you imagined. Until the very end of the story I saw myself go from “that sucks,” to “ok that really sucks,” to “Vera you deserve better cause he’s a douchebag.” But there’s this version of Charlie (her dead bff) that she sees, which at times seems wrong and at other times seems like it represents his potential or former self. And through Vera’s point of view, it’s very easy to understand both the love and hate she feels for Charlie, even if it’s at the same time.

There are so many things Vera has to deal with. There’s her relationship with Charlie, her Dad, or just herself. She has so much she has to deal with, that you eventually forget about Charlie, not that he becomes less prevalent. He just becomes a thing that is so constant; his presence just becomes a part of Vera’s background. It’s interesting how a book about death is actually about living. Through all her trials, Vera is forced to deal with her problems. Acceptance and growth are a huge part of this story, and it’s these kinds of aspects that helps make this book one of my favorite books!

Random great thing about this book: The freakin pagoda gets its own chapters! How cool is that?!!

Looking Foward to...

Description: It's hard finding beauty in the badlands of Washokey, Wyoming, but 14-year-old Grace Carpenter knows it's not her mother's pageant obsessions, or the cowboy dances adored by her small-town classmates. True beauty is wild-girl Mandarin Ramey: 17, shameless and utterly carefree. Grace would give anything to be like Mandarin.

When they're united for a project, they form an unlikely, explosive friendship, packed with nights spent skinny-dipping in the canal, liberating the town's animal-head trophies, and searching for someplace magic. Grace plays along when Mandarin suggests they run away together. Blame it on the crazy-making wildwinds plaguing their badlands town.

Because all too soon, Grace discovers Mandarin's unique beauty hides a girl who's troubled, broken, and even dangerous. And no matter how hard Grace fights to keep the magic, no friendship can withstand betrayal.

My thoughts: Contemporary isn't my favorite genre, but my favorite books always seem to be contemporary (Paper Towns, Please Ignore Vera Dietz). This sounds like a book that could be of or near that caliber.

Top Ten Tuesday: My Top Ten Books I Wish I'd Read As A Child

Top Ten Tuesdays is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

 They are all books I wanted to get to, or finish reading but never got to.

The Fallen: Raziel review

Description: 
She was just an ordinary mortal . . .
“You’re dead” is so not what Allie Watson wants to hear. Unfortunately, it explains a lot. Like the dark, angelically handsome man who ferried her to this strange, hidden land. The last thing she remembers is stepping off a curb in front of a crosstown bus. Now she’s surrounded by gorgeous fallen angels with an unsettling taste for blood—and they really don’t want her around. Not exactly how she pictured heaven.
. . . until death catapulted her into a seductive world she never imagined.
Raziel is unsure why he rescued Allie from hellfire against Uriel’s orders, but she stirs in him a longing he hasn't felt in centuries. Now the Fallen are bracing for the divine wrath brought by his disobedience, and they blame Allie for the ferocious Nephilim clawing at the kingdom’s shrouded gates. Facing impossible odds at every turn, the two must work together to survive. Raziel will do anything to defend his spirited lover against the forces of darkness—because Allie may be the Fallen’s only salvation.

My Thoughts: Ever since I started reading the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, I’ve been looking for another series that could have the same setting, but deal with a different person from the same group in every book. There were already plenty of books out there with that element, but that wasn’t the only prerequisite for a new series. It had to be likable. I already knew that nothing would take the place of the BDB series, but there must be a close second, or a series with great potential. I think The Fallen series has great potential!

This is my first adult book with fallen angels in it, so I had no real expectations when it came to what a group of angels would act like. I’m trying hard not to compare this series to BDB too much, but there are some positive and negative aspects of this book compared to BDB, I didn’t connect with these characters very well initially. Raziel was cold and had the kind of description that I’m used to a side character having before they get their own book and become more personal. I also thought at times, that Allie was stuck up. But other than the problem with how relatable the characters were (at first), everything else (including the characters) was fascinating. 

I’ve never heard of a story like this when it comes to fallen angels. It’s almost as if this book goes the opposite way when dealing with who the fallen are, whether they deserved to fall, and who the good guys really are. Being a Christian who loves to “study to show herself (yourself) approved (2 Tim. 2:15 ) it took a moment to except some of the background story pertaining to the fallen angels. But after a few chapters, I was totally into it.

Another thing I liked about this book was the overall problem. There’s always a problem between the main guy and girl which keeps them from being together, or seeing how they feel about each other, but there is always a bigger problem that affects the whole group. With this one, there is a war going on, and it’s getting closer and closer to the fallen’s door. If done right, this along with the main couple’s love problems will provide me and others with an exciting and alluring new series to read.

Note: This book was just released today!