Review: Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

Publish date: 1997
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Length: 337 pages
"A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that "suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down." He was wrong. The storm, which claimed five lives and left countless more--including Krakauer's--in guilt-ridden disarray, would also provide the impetus for Into Thin Air, Krakauer's epic account of the May 1996 disaster." (Goodreads)

Into Thin Air might seem like an odd book for someone like me to read, as a person who reads mostly YA and not a lot of nonfiction, but I read one of his other novels, Into the Wild, a few years ago and really enjoyed it. I read it because I was going to teach it, but I was pleasantly surprised with how much I actually enjoyed it. I'd meant to read Into Thin Air ever since then, but didn't pick it up until recently when I was trudging through a book I needed to read for my student book club, but was not enjoying it at all. I look through the ebooks my library had available, saw Into Thin Air, and promptly downloaded it. I read it over 3 days and loved it!

Into Thin Air is about the May 1996 disaster on Mt. Everest in which 5 people died. Jon Krakauer was one of the climbers, but he was actually sent as a journalist (who actually had a lot of mountain climbing experience) to write a story about the expedition. I have zero desire to climb a mountain (I mean, it's interesting and I'm interested in it, but not in actually doing it), but I still found this book so intriguing and satisfying. 

Jon Krakauer writes the kind of nonfiction that I just greedily gobble up. I love how much research he pours into everything he writes: everyone's backstories, lots of historical information, scientific information, and just lots of honesty in everything. I also love his writing style itself. It's so compelling that it reads just like fiction and a very exciting piece of fiction at that. I never wanted to put this down!

There were some afterwords added to this that I appreciated a lot. Some people on the expedition didn't like how Krakauer explained this, so they told their side to people and the afterwords were basically explanations of that. If you plan on reading this book, definitely read everything included!

I highly recommend Krakauer's work, especially Into Thin Air. Even if you think you don't like nonfiction or stories about mountain climbing, I would still give this a shot. 

Review: I am Princess X by Cherie Priest

Publish date: 2015
Source: School media center
Format: Paperback
Length: 256 pages
"Once upon a time, two best friends created a princess together. Libby drew the pictures, May wrote the tales, and their heroine, Princess X, slayed all the dragons and scaled all the mountains their imaginations could conjure. 

Once upon a few years later, Libby was in the car with her mom, driving across the Ballard Bridge on a rainy night. When the car went over the side, Libby passed away, and Princess X died with her.

Once upon a now: May is sixteen and lonely, wandering the streets of Seattle, when she sees a sticker slapped in a corner window.

Princess X?

When May looks around, she sees the Princess everywhere: Stickers. Patches. Graffiti. There's an entire underground culture, focused around a webcomic at IAmPrincessX.com. The more May explores the webcomic, the more she sees disturbing similarities between Libby's story and Princess X online. And that means that only one person could have started this phenomenon---her best friend, Libby, who lives." (Goodreads)

Do you ever read something and then wonder why you waited so long to read it? That is exactly how I felt when I was reading I am Princess X! It's been on my TBR since I'd heard of it and the media center at the school where I work even had it, but I STILL waited so long to read it and now I want to kick myself. I picked it up on a whim recently while at school and could barely put it down!

The bulk of this story is May trying to find out what is going on with all the Princess X stuff she is seeing all over Seattle since only she and Libby really knew about it and Libby's been dead for years. I felt like I was right there with her, trying to figure out who was putting all this Princess X stuff everywhere. Was Libby still alive? Did someone find all their stuff and start posting it? What was going on???  I felt like I was on the edge of my seat the whole time!

Another aspect of the book I liked was the addition of some of the Princess X comics throughout the book, so you get both normal narrative parts and comics while reading. Sometimes extra stuff like that annoys me in books, but it worked perfectly here. I think that will really help with its appeal when I book talk it to my classes in the fall.

The only reason this wasn't a five star read for me was because of the ending. I wanted more explanation and basically just more in general of everything, but I still felt like it was a really good book. I only wish I'd read it earlier so I could have gotten it signed when I was at an event with Cherie Priest in January. Note to self: don't wait so long to read books when they sound amazing!

Books on my Summer TBR

Even though summer is quickly flying by, I thought I would list a few that I really would like to read before it's over. School starts a week earlier this year, so I have a little less reading time than usual. I do, however, have a trip coming up in which I should have lots of time to read, so that's good :)

Books I'd like to read before summer is over:

My Lady Jane by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, & Jodi Meadows: This book sounds hilarious and I don't think I've read a single bad review!

The Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall: I saw this pitched as a YA Da Vinci code, aka Kyle crack.

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh: I have this on my kindle, plus I just met Renee at ILA, where she signed a paperback copy for my classroom, so now I want to read it more than ever! It sounds good and I just need to wait for when the mood strikes.

The Fixer by Jennifer Lynn Barnes: None of JLB's books have ever appealed to me, but The Fixer sounds good and it's gotten great reviews.

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis: Time travel is a reading weakness of mine and this classic sci-fi book sounds awesome!

Heartless by Marissa Meyer: I know this doesn't come out until November but I was lucky enough to get an arc of Heartless at ILA recently. I'm leery because it's not my beloved Lunar Chronicles, but it IS Marissa Meyer, so, you know. Gotta read it.

Let's try this again!

It's that time of year...I decided that I want to blog again! 

I know, I know. I attempted this last summer and only posted a few times, but I've been thinking about blogging again for a few months now and decided to take the plunge!

I will definitely NOT be posting everyday, but hopefully a few times a week. It will probably be a mix of reviews and Top Ten Tuesday posts and maybe posts about teaching or conferences that I go to. I'm looking forward to doing some writing about reading again. I have so many books to talk about!!

Top Ten Recently Acquired Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is Top Ten Recently Acquired Books, which is interesting for me because most of my books normally come from my classroom or the public library, but this week has been a little different. 

My husband bought me the Book Riot YA box to try out, which was neat, but this box's books aren't really my thing, unfortunately. I was hoping for a variety of genres but they all appear to be realistic fiction while I am more of a science fiction/fantasy fan right now. Not a problem though, as they will all go to my classroom library and will be read by many students this fall :) The three books below came in the box, along with a book light and some library check out cards. 

1. Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour

2. A Sense of the Infinite by Hilary T. Smith

3. Chasing Shadows by Swati Avasthi: Of all three, I think I am most likely to read this one.

From the library: I got a couple new audiobooks to try out since I finished my other one and I have a long drive by myself coming up, plus a regular print book.

4. Fablehaven by Brandon Mull: I like it so far, but the first CD is skipping a bit and the narration is slooooow. We'll see.

5. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich: I downloaded this one from the library to my phone, which is my preferred way of listening to audiobooks. I've been meaning to read the series for a while, so maybe audio is the way to go?

6. Lady Thief by A. C. Gaughen: I really liked Scarlet, but set this aside for later since it wasn't grabbing me.

From friends: My friend Christina just moved to the UK (I know!) and was rehoming some books, so she sent me two for my classroom library.

7. The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima: I plan to read this one.

8. The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma 

From the bookstore and Amazon: 

9. The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas: I had a coupon, I've been meaning to read it so I can try Throne of Glass again, there was one copy left...the stars aligned. 

10. Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen: I need to read this for book club, but it is not calling to me at all!

Audiobook Review: Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

Narrator: Sasha Pick
Publish date: 2013
Source: audiobooksync.com
Length: 11 hours 40 minutes
"While flying an Allied fighter plane from Paris to England, American ATA pilot and amateur poet, Rose Justice, is captured by the Nazis and sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious women's concentration camp. Trapped in horrific circumstances, Rose finds hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery and friendship of her fellow prisoners. But will that be enough to endure the fate that's in store for her?

Elizabeth Wein, author of the critically-acclaimed and best-selling Code Name Verity, delivers another stunning WWII thriller. The unforgettable story of Rose Justice is forged from heart-wrenching courage, resolve, and the slim, bright chance of survival. " (Goodreads)

I need to get this out of the way right now: I did not love Code Name Verity. I don't know if I even liked it, honestly. Don't hate me, but it definitely was not the book for me that it was for so many others. Despite that, Rose Under Fire sounded really good to me. I picked it up at ALA in 2013, but when I tried to read it, I got about 100 pages in and gave up. It just wasn't working for me at all...

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when it was one of Audiobook Sync's free downloads. I gave it another shot, thinking maaaaybe the audiobook would make a difference over print and I was right! It was way better listening to than reading and completely changed the reading experience for me!

Rose Under Fire is split into a few different sections and I was a bit surprised at how much actually happens before Rose is sent to Ravensbrück, as described in the summary. I expected a bit of introduction, but there was quite a lot. Not a bad thing though! Characters do pop up from Code Name Verity since this is technically a companion book, so I would recommend reading (or at least trying to read) CNV first since obviously some things will be spoiled. 

In terms of audiobook quality, I thought this was really good. The story was really brought to life by Sasha Pick's narration in a way that did NOT happen for me with the print. She had different voices for everyone and her narration really helped with the tone when Rose was at the camp and things were not going well. There was even singing in some parts, which really lent itself to the audiobook experience, and I enjoyed hearing Rose's poetry compared to reading it.

I would definitely recommend the audiobook over print in this case and am curious to see if anyone else had a similar experience? Thoughts?

Review: The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

Publish date: 2014
Source: Purchased
Format: Kindle ebook
Length: 448 pages
"Young Kelsea Raleigh was raised in hiding after the death of her mother, Queen Elyssa, far from the intrigues of the royal Keep and in the care of two devoted servants who pledged their lives to protect her. Growing up in a cottage deep in the woods, Kelsea knows little of her kingdom's haunted past . . . or that its fate will soon rest in her hands.

Long ago, Kelsea's forefathers sailed away from a decaying world to establish a new land free of modern technology. Three hundred years later, this feudal society has divided into three fearful nations who pay duties to a fourth: the powerful Mortmesne, ruled by the cunning Red Queen. Now, on Kelsea's nineteenth birthday, the tattered remnants of the Queen's Guard—loyal soldiers who protect the throne—have appeared to escort the princess on a perilous journey to the capital to ascend to her rightful place as the new Queen of the Tearling.

Though born of royal blood and in possession of the Tear sapphire, a jewel of immense power and magic, Kelsea has never felt more uncertain of her ability to rule. But the shocking evil she discovers in the heart of her realm will precipitate an act of immense daring, throwing the entire kingdom into turmoil—and unleashing the Red Queen's vengeance. A cabal of enemies with an array of deadly weapons, from crimson-caped assassins to the darkest blood magic, plots to destroy her. But Kelsea is growing in strength and stealth, her steely resolve earning her loyal allies, including the Queen's Guard, led by the enigmatic Lazarus, and the intriguing outlaw known simply as "the Fetch."Kelsea's quest to save her kingdom and meet her destiny has only just begun. Riddled with mysteries, betrayals, and treacherous battles, Kelsea's journey is a trial by fire that will either forge a legend . . . or destroy her." (Goodreads)

I bought The Queen of the Tearling quite a while ago when it was a Kindle daily deal (those are dangerous!). I started reading it on a plane ride coming home from a student trip I chaperoned to Europe. I'd finished my other book and after perusing my Kindle, decided to try Tearling. It was a slow start, but I really liked it!

The Queen of the Tearling is definitely a slower paced book, so if you need faster paced books, this one might be a struggle for you. I usually don't like slower paced books, but this one really worked for me. Maybe because I started it on a plane ride and there wasn't much else to do? For whatever reason, I liked it a lot.

There's plenty of time to get to know Kelsea and her guard. Lazarus was particularly awesome and I liked his and Kelsea's friendship. I feel like most fantasy books have a good relationship between the queen and the head of her guard and this was no exception.

Like I said, this was slower paced and sometimes that was a pain. The chapters were loooong, which I dislike, but the ending was exciting and worth pushing through the slow parts. I'm excited to read The Invasion of the Tearling! It's even on my wishlist, which is rare :)