CarrieK | March 2, 2010
Title: Nine Horses: Poems
Author: Billy Collins
Genre: Poetry
Publisher: Random House
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Source: Print copy from my personal library
I am an unabashed fan of Billy Collins, but this definitely wasn’t my favorite collection. It had a few memorable poems, but most I thought were just okay. Unusual for Collins – every other collection I’ve [...]
CarrieK | February 19, 2010
Title: Candor
Author: Pam Bachorz
Genre: YA dystopian fiction
Publisher: Egmont
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Source: Print copy from my own library
First line: CA-CHUNK, CA-CHUNK, CA-CHUNK.
How far would you go to help your kids become smart, healthy, productive citizens? What about yourself? How far would you go to get rid of those habits, addictions, compulsions that you fight [...]
CarrieK | January 26, 2010
Title: Gone
Author: Michael Grant
Genre: YA dystopian fiction
Publisher: Harper Teen
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Source: ARC from publisher
First line: One minute the teacher was talking about the Civil War. And the next minute he was gone.
In the blink of an eye, everyone disappears. Gone. Except for anyone young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not a single [...]
CarrieK | January 19, 2010
Title: Brave New World
Author: Aldous Huxley
Genre: Dystopian fiction
Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Source: Audiobook from the public library.
First line: A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories.
Brave New World was written by Aldous Huxley in 1932. That in itself is amazing because of how modern it seems. In Huxley’s world, science [...]
CarrieK | January 15, 2010
Title: This World We Live In
Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer
Genre: YA dystopian fiction
Publisher: Harcourt
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Source: Galley in e-book form from NetGalley
First line: I’m shivering, and I can’t tell if it’s because something strange is going on or because of the dream I had or just because I’m in the kitchen, away from [...]
CarrieK | December 27, 2009
Title: The Knife of Never Letting Go
Author: Patrick Ness
Genre: YA science fiction
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Source: Print copy that was a gift from Vasilly
First line: The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don’t got nothing much to say.
The Knife of Never Letting Go is [...]
CarrieK | December 23, 2009
Title: Where Water Comes Together with Other Water: Poems
Author: Raymond Carver
Genre: Poetry
Publisher: Vintage Books
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Source: Print copy from the public library.
First line: Where this floated up from, or why, I don’t know.
Mini-review: Poetry centered on people and their stories – some I loved, some were just okay. Will post a favorite [...]
CarrieK | December 19, 2009
Title: Darkness Be My Friend
Author: John Marsden
Genre: YA dystopian fiction
Publisher: Scholastic
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Source: Print copy from the public library.
First line: I didn’t want to go back.
(Spoiler alert: This review will not contain spoilers of this book, but will go on the assumption that you’ve read books 1 through 3. If that’s not [...]