The one-year anniversary of this blog was March 22. Let's celebrate!!!
But first, a few thoughts:
I started with a specific format for my reviews, with which I have *mostly* been consistent. When I started this blog, I tried to give each book ratings, first out of 5 stars, and then letter grades. I even contemplated creating a rubric to grade each book (once an English teacher . . . ). Soon, I realized that in order for me to not give each book a high rating, I had to focus on what was wrong with instead of what I liked about them.
Trying to be extra critical wasn't working for me; besides, most of the books I was reviewing were award-winning because they're good books, y'all.
So my "reviews" mostly became examples of literary analysis, which doesn't sound very interesting. Therefore, I am working on figuring out another word for analysis--dictionary.com is failing me--to use in a blog re-title. All suggestions welcome.
I wanted to highlight my favorite "literary-analysis-posts-essays-reviews" I've written in the past year. I started with 16. Tried to narrow to 10, but then narrowed it down to a baker's dozen.
1. Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky
What I like about my post: This was one of the first posts I went over my 250-word limit when reviewing. I divided the post up into emotional moments: sympathy for Grayson, sadness for her situation, frustration with the adults, empathy for the teacher. I also enjoyed the theatre plot and the inclusion of To Kill a Mockingbird.
What I like about my post: The book was horrifying, suspenseful, and surprising. I arranged the post by each part of the book that surprised me. I have read a lot of mysteries and thrillers, and A Line in the Dark kept surprising me literally until the last page.
Favorite quote: "I picture the girl on the ground, her body weighting down layers of damp, dead leaves as the snow falls in soft heavy flakes over her, covering her mouth, her eyes, drifting into her nostrils. If that jogger hadn't found her today, she might have lain there beneath the drifts until spring came, undiscovered, frost spreading across her skin in blue veins, her lips turning purple" (pg. 147).
3. Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg
What I like about my post: Wow, I started out venting and being extremely critical of the main character. Poor kid. Yikes. But the book inspired me to write and write and WRITE. What a fantastic discussion opportunity this book is! And once you get through my annihilation of poor Rafe (sorry), you can see that I had a lot of things that I liked about this book, and it made me a Bill Konigsberg fan for life.
Favorite quote: "'Gee, what is it about me that attracts all the gays? I'm like Lady Gaga or something.'
'That's it. That's exactly who you're like. We're drawn to your persona and your frequent outfit changes. Albie Gaga'" (p. 277).
'That's it. That's exactly who you're like. We're drawn to your persona and your frequent outfit changes. Albie Gaga'" (p. 277).
What I like about my post: I discuss the flaws and the issues with the first trilogy, how the characters grew on me, and my eternal fandom status with them now. I think it's a good summary of the first three trilogies for those who have not read them, and the Internet seems to agree, since this has recently become one of my most viewed posts (and I consider that a compliment since there are no shortage of Cassandra Clare-related websites, pages, and reviews out there).
Favorite quote: "Isabelle snorted, 'All the boys are gay. In this truck, anyway. Well, not you, Simon.'
'You noticed,' said Simon. 'I think of myself as a freewheeling bisexual,' added Magnus.
'Please never say those words in front of my parents,' said Alec.” (City of Lost Souls)
What I like about my post: I had a great time comparing this book to Twilight Zone episodes. I was so proud of this post that I emailed it to the book's author, Tim Floreen--and he emailed me back! I was so excited that I immediately requested his other book via inter-library-loan. Plus, this book is another one that is a great discussion opportunity, in a Ray Bradbury-esque "don't let the machines take over!" sort of way.
Favorite quote: "How are human beings any different? My dad's always talking about how 2Bs don't have true free will, like humans do. But aren't our choices determined by our programming, too? Our genes and environment and all that? Aren't we basically just robots ourselves?" (pg. 216).
6. Wide Awake by David Levithan
What I like about my post: I compared the book to today's politics without being too overly political. Like many futuristic books, it contains future anachronisms but gets some things eerily correct. I re-share this post whenever the US government does something stupid, so it has quite a few views.
Favorite quote: "We are going to intervene, because it's our right--if not our duty--as citizens to intervene. Good doesn't triumph because anybody tells it to. It triumphs when we push it and carry it and shout it and embrace it until it triumphs. That's what we're doing here. That's why we're going" (pg. 102).
What I like about my post: This was another book about technology and politics but also with themes of creation, arrogance, and playing God. The main character had copies of the books Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and The Picture of Dorian Gray on his shelf, and I refuse to believe that this was not done on purpose. This gave the English teacher in me FULL REIGN to compare Tattoo Atlas to those classics, and boy did I enjoy it.
Favorite quote: "What's your mom's plan, Rem? Make everyone perfectly empathic and compliant? Except for the people in charge, because you can bet your a** they won't be doing the surgery on themselves. And while they're at it, they can fix other people's mental deviances too. Maybe you should watch your back. The gays might be next" (pg. 78).
8. My Most Excellent Year: a Novel of Love, Mary Poppins, & Fenway Park by Steve Kluger
What I like about my post: I love this underappreciated book so much. I also learned about baseball leagues on Japanese internment camps and gained a new favorite audition song from Kiss Me Kate. Kluger keeps a low-profile on social media and Internet sites (even for a stalker--er, FAN like me), but if he ever surfaces, I plan to tell him to KEEP WRITING young adult because I love his style.
Favorite quote: "And while I was tucking him in, I realized that we'd never had the 'I'm gay' conversation. Has this generation finally made it superfluous? If only" (pg. 188).
9. The Porcupine of Truth (Part 2) by Bill Konigsberg
What I like about my post: I had so much to say about this book that I divided up my post into two parts. Part 1 had more views than any other post on my site, but Part 2 is the post of my heart. I did some research about AIDS among my Facebook friends and incorporated their stories into the post and into two other posts.
My favorite quote: "It's freaky to think that someone who is just like me died of AIDS. That someday, I might get a disease because I'm a human and all humans get diseases and die. It's a part of life, I guess, and that makes me feel surprisingly alive" (pg. 269).
10. With or Without You by Brian Farrey
What I like about my post: Between the Porcupine post and this one, I learned a lot about AIDS, stuff that I am embarrassed that I didn't already know, considering I was alive during the 80's. However, I was an elementary school student at a Catholic school. My AIDS knowledge certainly didn't include bug chasing, which was a large part of this book. I did the most interesting, disturbing, and downright fascinating research of anything I think I've ever written.
My favorite quote: "Arthur loved sailing. This was taken a week before he died. . . We made that square for the AIDS Memorial Quilt. The quilt was supposed to be a remembrance so no one would ever forget what happened: the senseless loss. Apparently, those bugchasers never got the message" (pg. 253).
11. Girl Mans Up by M-E Girard
11. Girl Mans Up by M-E Girard
What I like about my post: I started writing this post and put it aside for a while because I was not liking the angle I had chosen to write about. Then, the Kavanaugh hearings occurred. Suddenly I had a ton of motivation and anger to write the post about male privilege and #MeToo. I think you can feel the anger and frustration in his post (and also, this is an excellent book).
My favorite quote: "I should stop being such a girly douche, and I should just man up. Then, it's the opposite: I'm too much of a guy, and it's not right. I should be a girl, because that's what I'm supposed to be. The thing is, I'm not a boy, but I don't want to be that girl either" (pg. 42).
12. The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater
What I like about my post: Probably the most compelling nonfiction book I've ever read. I could not put it down. I compared it to 12 Angry Men in my analysis, and somehow even managed to keep it 250 words. Read this book!!!
My favorite quote: "Gender was the word for what people felt about themselves, how they felt inside. Sexuality was the category for who you were physically attracted to. Romantic was the category for who you felt romantic attraction to. And there was a whole array of distinctions within each category as well. It was like a gigantic menu, with columns and columns of choices" (pg. 32).
13. Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
What I like about my post: I found a lot of similarities with Darius in how we both live with depression. I also enjoyed his relationship with his family and all of the Tolkien and Star Trek references. This is a very personal post for me that I had a lot of fun writing.
My favorite quote: "I want you to feel things, Darius. But I'm scared for you. You have no idea how scared. I take my eyes off you one moment and if it's the wrong moment, you could be drowning in depression, bad enough to . . .to do something about it. And I can't protect you from that. No matter how hard I try" (pg. 285).
No comments:
Post a Comment