This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Current Mitunes - George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue

This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Genre: Dystopian YA
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Release Date: April 1, 2010
Pages: 256

It's been a year since a meteor collided with the moon, catastrophically altering the earth's climate. For Miranda Evans, life as she knew it no longer exists. Her friends and neighbors are dead, the landscape is frozen, and food is increasingly scarce.


The struggle to survive intensifies when Miranda's father and stepmother arrive with a baby and three strangers in tow. One of the newcomers is Alex Morales, and as Miranda's complicated feelings for him turn to love, his plans for his future thwart their relationship. Then a devastating tornado hits the town of Howell, and Miranda makes a decision that will change their lives forever.


In the final installment of Pfeffer's 'The Last Survivors Trilogy', we find that Miranda's world wildly changes as she goes from finding herself stuck in a single room with her two brothers and mother - starving and freezing to death - to greeting several others and finding a whole new world of concerns.

Pfeffer's story telling becomes even more grim as we delve further into Miranda's journey to discovering the meaning of her life, the future it may hold and where her beliefs lie. Though shorter than the previous two in the series, This World We Live In does not disappoint, rather it excels at giving the reader more than entertainment, but truth as it holds up a mirror for us to consider our own lives and hearts.

I am so sad to have finished this series for it was truly amazing. I haven't read a series like this in quite some time and I recommend it to anyone looking for not only a great read, but a quick and enjoyable one as well.

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Current Mitunes - Adele's Rolling in the Deep


Bossypants by Tina Fey
Genre: Biography/Comedy
Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books
Release Date: April 5, 2011
Pages: 288

As if it needed to be said, this book is hilarious. I love Tina Fey, I really do. And this book made me love her even more.

Sure the book is filled with funny anecdotes about Ms. Fey's crazy life, her strange experiences with boys and growing up not being the gorgeous blond but a smart and witty brunette. There is great insight into the world of stand up comedy, from early beginnings in Chicago to backstage at SNL. There are also great passages about becoming a mother, of not one but two children. (Fey considers 30 Rock as her second child). All of this is done in a tasteful manner. Fey never bashes people or name drops just for the sake of selling books. Instead she sells the book with her entertaining wit, honesty and her comedic way of looking at life in all its beauty; from a failed attempt at hooking up with a guy by going on a disastrous hike, to a devastating honeymoon that results in a fire aboard a cruise ship.

However, Bossyants is more than that. It has a passionate message about women being capable of more than expected. She proves that it is worth striving for your goals, even if there is difficulty breaking into what is considered "A Man's Business". To top it all off she shows true professionalism as she recognizes all the people and hard work that go into creating a successful show like 30 Rock.


Bossypants is true inspiration (and great for more than a few laughs)

The Dead and the Gone By Susan Beth Pfeffer

Mitunes - Selections from Aaron Copland's Rodeo Ballet

The Dead and the Gone By Susan Beth Pfeffer
Genre: YA/
Pubisher: Graphia
Release Date: Jan. 18th 2010
Pages: 336

In Life as We Knew It, veteran writer Pfeffer painted a terrifying picture of what happened in a rural Pennsylvania town after an asteroid hit the moon and cataclysmic changes on land and sea caused familiar life to grind to a halt. For readers who wondered if things were any better in a bustling city, here is the horrifying answer. On the night the moon tilts, 17-year-old Alex and his younger sisters are alone; their mother is at work, and their father is visiting Puerto Rico. No matter how the kids wish, hope, and pray, their parents don’t return. It’s up to Alex to do what’s best. 


This is the second in The Last Survivors Trilogy. It is a companion to Pfeffer's first novel in the series, Life as We Knew It, which I absolutely loved. The second book, though vastly different, is a great follow up to the first. I will admit I did not like it as much as the first one, but I think that is mostly due to the change in point of view. This story is told in third person where as Life as We Knew It was in first.


Still, what Pfeffer describes in this book is truly terrifying on a very different level than in Life as We Knew It. First and for most, Alex and his siblings are left with no parents to take care of them or think ahead, where as in the first book our main character was more a follower being protected by her mother and older brother. Here we see what it is like to be a leader. Alex is thrust into a position he is barely ready for and we get to see how he takes on his new challenge as the master of the house. 


Though the initial event is the same, reading about a city's struggle to survive these cataclysmic changes is so exciting, not only because I live in NY, but also because we are experiencing a familiar story in a completely different way. If I thought Miranda's story was terrifying, that was nothing to compare to Alex's. The city quickly becomes infested with dead bodies, the rat population doubles (maybe even triples) and food quickly becomes a privilege for the rich and the ones willing to do anything to stay alive.

I am very genuine when I say I cannot wait to read the third installment of this series. I truly love these books and recommend them to anyone looking for a good read.

Holes By Louis Sachar

Mitunes - John Williams' Hymn To The Fallen From Saving Private Ryan

Holes by Louis Sachar
Genre: YA/ Mystery
Publisher: Yearling Books
Release Date: April 30th, 2000
Pages: 272

Stanley Yelnats isn't so surprised when a miscarriage of justice sends him to a juvenile detention center.  After all, his family has been ridden with bad luck ever since a one-legged gypsy put a curse on his great-great grandfather.  He is told that the hard labor he must perform...digging 5 foot holes in the dried up soil where Green Lake once sat...is meant to build character.  But is soon becomes clear to Stanley that the warden is really using the boys to search for something very valuable.  The story of the hidden treasure, alone with the warden, Stanley's friend Zero, and the curse on the Yelnats family are all part of a compelling puzzle that has taken generations to unravel.


Believe it or not I have never read Holes. I saw the movie once when I was much younger, so I had a bit of a basis to go by, though it mostly consists of Shia Labeouf running through the desert and an occasional cameo by Sigourney Weaver (Whom I love!).


I digress, I really enjoyed this book. I love stories like Sachar's where everything is laid out for you, questions are raised, certain things hint at others and by the time you have finished the novel you realize everything concludes in a wonderful little package. There is nothing to question, you understand where everything has come from and why things have happened and everything in the world of the story is a perfect little web.


What I really enjoyed about this book is that there are really two stories going on here. Not only is it a story of a bunch of boys stuck digging in the desert as a means of learning a hard lesson. It is also a long history of the camp and the people who had at one time inhabited the long lost lake. I LOVED that aspect of the story. There is so much heart and soul shared in that tale and it makes you appreciate the book so much more. 


Obviously this book has been around for quite some time - heck part of me feels like I may have been the last person to read it - but if you never read it in your youth you definitely should now. If you are looking for a quick read with great humor and a story filled with adventure and a lot of heart Holes definitely is the choice for you!

LIFE Gets you...

Mitunes - John Powell's score to 'How to Train your Dragon'

I don't know where February has gone.

It's seems that the new year is moving on just as every new year seems to - January and February fly by and at some point March hits you in the face and life starts to take a slow turn.

Still, I am happy to admit that though my blog entries have almost ceased to exist, I have not taken a moment to stop reading (and I hopefully never will!) I have a bunch of books just waiting to be mentioned here on the blog including an AMAZING 15 book set of Roald Dahl's classics (Pictured to the right) gifted to me for Valentine's day. (Yes I realize it is dorky to receive books as and I also realize that you may be jealous of me for having such an awesome Valentine as well!!! Anyway - I have NEVER read any of them and am very excited to get started! I'm thinking of making it an entire month project for March - maybe title it March along with Roald Dahl or March Madness with Roald Dahl... I don't know.

So, now that I have used life as an excuse to ignore updating my reading list, I will begin to post about some of the awesome books I have been reading and am looking forward to read!

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Mitunes - The Rembrants' "I'll be there for you"

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Genre/Level: 12 & Up
Release Date: May 1, 2008
Publisher: Graphia
Pages: 320

It's almost the end of Miranda's sophomore year in high school, and her journal reflects the busy life of a typical teenager: conversations with friends, fights with mom, and fervent hopes for a driver's license. When Miranda first begins hearing the reports of a meteor on a collision course with the moon, it hardly seems worth a mention in her diary. But after the meteor hits, pushing the moon off its axis and causing worldwide earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes, all the things Miranda used to take for granted begin to disappear. Food and gas shortages, along with extreme weather changes, come to her small Pennsylvania town; and Miranda's voice is by turns petulant, angry, and finally resigned, as her family is forced to make tough choices while they consider their increasingly limited options. Yet even as suspicious neighbors stockpile food in anticipation of a looming winter without heat or electricity, Miranda knows that that her future is still hers to decide even if life as she knew it is over.


I LOVED this book.


I really couldn't start this any other way. Now I am going to tell you why...


Knowing the premise of the book really didn't set me up for what i was getting into and in so many ways I'm grateful for that. Upon reading a synopsis like the one above I assumed it would be like all those crazy end of the world type of movies like 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow. I thought, 'Ok, big deal, no electricity, crazy weather, people running from scary tidal waves.' I couldn't have been more wrong about this book.

The narrator, Miranda is such a wonderful character that I connected with on so many levels. Everything she did seemed agreeable from the reader's stand point and never was I thinking, she's so stupid or unrealistic or anything like that. In fact, most of the thoughts she had or actions she took were things that I not only agreed with but would have done as well. (Or at least I think so)

The actual incident of a comet knocking the moon off its orbit leads to tsunamis and unexpected volcanoes, but I was so very happy to discover the book wasn't about people running from tidal waves or molten lava. So much of it was just Miranda and her family doing anything and everything they could to survive, even if that meant rationing their food to the extremity of starvation, using bed pans as their only means of going to the bathroom, transforming the only room in their house with a wood burning stove into a single functioning unit and those are just to name a few.

Everything in the book was so believable I kept thinking about it everywhere I went especially when I saw the moon. I was not only hooked, but so closely connected with the characters as well. I truly couldn't stop reading it, just because I needed to make sure that Miranda and her family were ok.

One of my favorite aspects of the book is that in a strange sort of way, nothing really happens for long periods of time. Now, of course things happen or no one would continue reading it, but what I mean to say is that the reader is enwrapped in the novel and Miranda's voice without the use of any gimmicks. Pfeffer never resolves to throwing in intense events just for the sake of keeping the reading interested. She doesn't need to because her voice is so great.

I would recommend this book to pretty much anyone, that's how much I liked it. The book is, of course part of a trilogy, though I believe the second one focuses on someone else in another part of the world. At first I found that displeasing (I care about Miranda so much!) Still, the more I thought about it, the more I am intrigued and cannot wait to experience someone else's journey and struggle with this catastrophic event.

Get your hands on this book. And if you've already read it I would LOVE to hear what you think!

The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Current Mitunes - "The Bend and Snap" from Legally Blonde The Musical (I hope the irony is appreciated)

The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Genre: Post Apocalyptic/ Dystopian YA (12 & up according to Amazon.com)

Release Date: February 8th, 2005

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Pages: 448

Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.


But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world -- and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.


A friend of mine recommended I read this after expressing my enjoyment of The Hunger Games Trilogy. When I started reading it, I must admit I found it rather slow. I can't really put my finger on what I didn't like, it just felt slow. The story didn't really start to take shape until a quarter of the way into the novel, when Shay leaves and Tally is faced with the ultimatum of turning her friend in or never seeing the 'pretty' face she has dreamed of having for so long.

At first I feared the book lent itself to becoming too preachy. As one can imagine a lot of the book delves into this idea of uniformity by means of making everyone basically look the same in an ideological 'pretty' form; with perfect symmetry of the body and face. It had a 'damn society' sort of feel. However, as the plot unfolded, the preachiness faded and the story became more about Tally's struggle, not only to find her friend by means of a cryptic message, but also her feelings on when she finally found her in this camp known as the Smoke. (A secret society that lends itself to feeling like 'The Others' on the island in Lost.)

At completion of the book I can say that I did enjoy it, especially for a dystopian novel that has an extra oomph to its tale. It's anti-establishment, anti-war and pro-individuality all wrapped in one. Not sure if I am going to continue with the series just yet, but you never know. I may feel the need to find out what happens to Tally and her band of rebels sometime in the future.

Gregor The Overlander by Suzanne Collins

Current MiTunes - "Valerie" from Dario Marianelli's V for Vendetta

Gregor The Overlander by Suzanne Collins
Genre: Middle grade/ Fantasy
Release Date: August 1, 2004
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pages: 308


When Gregor falls through a grate in the laundry room of his apartment building, he hurtles into the dark Underland, where spiders, rats, cockroaches coexist uneasily with humans. This world is on the brink of war, and Gregor's arrival is no accident. A prophecy foretells that Gregor has a role to play in the Underland's uncertain future. Gregor wants no part of it -- until he realizes it's the only way to solve the mystery of his father's disappearance. Reluctantly, Gregor embarks on a dangerous adventure that will change both him and the Underland forever.


I received this book as a Christmas present (SCORE!), which I'm assuming was given to me due to my love of the Hunger Games Trilogy. 

Though the plot wasn't as intriguing as the Hunger Games, I enjoyed it. It's a sweet, simple story about a boy living in New York City who stumbles down a vent in his basement laundry room. When he discovers that his missing father is a captive of a race of villainous rats he and his baby sister set out , accompanied by several critters, to fulfill a prophecy before war destroys the Underland.

This novel was an enjoyable and quick read. The story is reminiscent of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which is intentional. Collins' idea was inspired by Lewis Carroll's classic with the twist being that Underland is somewhat more realistic to what one may expect to find hidden underneath a massive city like New York. (ie; rats, cockroaches and bats) Honestly the critters used in the story didn't really bother me, yes they talked, but Collins gave them each a distinctive voice which I enjoyed and appreciated.

Gregor is a great hero for boys. He is sensitive without being too difficult to empathize with. (He doesn't moan on about his missing father to the point where you no longer care, which I appreciated) What I also enjoyed is that he doesn't want to be a hero. In fact, he would prefer to get home, but discovering his father is alive brings out the burning desire to be reunited with him. His baby sister was cute and added a fun quality to this type of quest tale.

Over all I would definitely recommend this for someone looking for a great book for middle grade boys to read. There is nothing overly gruesome or graphic, even though it is a tale of war, and there are some very entertaining passages as well.