Now Reading : Native Tongue

Feed by M.T. Anderson

The second in a series of young adult fiction which takes place in the future. This book and The Giver portray two completely different landscapes which hold the future of the human race.

Unlike the organized calmness in The Giver, where everything is taken away so that there is no need to make decisions, in Feed we see just the opposite. Just after birth, each person is implanted with The Feed...or rather software that connects to The Feed. It's the internet in your head. People have lost the ability to read, because there is no need to...no needto write .....everything that they need can be looked up using the the computers in their brains. They know that it used to not be that way :

I don't know when the first had feeds. Like maybe, fifty or a hundred years ago. Before that, they had to use their hands and their eyes. Computers were all outside the body. They carried them around outside of them, in their hands, like if you carried your lungs in a briefcase and opened it to breathe.

The Feed transmits thing for them to buy, to do, to see all the time based on their personalities. Like on Amazon now...did you like Feed by M.T. Anderson? Well then you might like these other 8 choices. Everything including School and Clouds are Trademarked and owned by corporations...everything is owned by them...including The Feed. You can quickly m-chat your friends at a party if you can't hear them talking to you....that's right...IMing....right in your head.

The story is about a group of teens who went to the moon...and the moon sucked...as per the first line of the book. The main character is a kid named Titus who meets a strange and different girl named Violet on the moon. She is a challenge to Titus and to his way of life.....she is someone that decides to Fight the Feed.

Another great one....10/10 (I'm so freakin' book slutty)

The Giver by Lois Lowry

We continue with some young adult fiction as given by ...yes you guessed it...everyone's favorite Chicago librarian....the lovely Lisa...Librarian and cousin extraordinaire. She gave me this book and a book called Feed which I am currently reading, to compare and contrast (she's a teacher through and through).

The Giver is a story about a young boy who is an inhabitant of what should be an ideal world...but inevitably a creepy world. There are family units, who are assigned spouses...who are assigned children. Yes... that was the right word...assigned. Every year in December there is a ceremony that starts with those kids that had been born within the last year, they are then assigned to a familly unit. Each family unit is allowed one boy and one girl. As you move on, you become a "Two" or a "Seven" or...a "Twelve" etc depending on the number of years you are away from that first ceremony.

When you attend the ceremony as a soon to be "Twelve" you will be finding out what your career is going to be. The career path is chosen by the Elders who have been keeping an eye on your volunteer activities and interests. Maybe you'll be an educator, or work with the Newborns, or even become one of the Birthmothers (although this is not a desirable position).

When the main character, Jonas, attends his ceremony he waits patiently to find out what catagory he's going to be placed in. However, he's mysteriously skipped over for the next Twelve.

What happens to Jonas. What does he end up doing? What does it mean to be "Released"?

The answer to those questions show quite the scary side to seemingly ideal utopia Jonas had been living in. Fantastic Read.

Pedro and Me by Judd Winick

The cover of this book would not win Booksluts Judging a book by it's cover....as it's some kind of 1990s schmarmy I don't know what.

However, the content inside is fantastic. This was a another recommendation from the lovely librarian Lisa who actually gave me this plus two other books that you'll be reading about.

For those of you that are fans of the MTV show The Real World, you might remember the season in San Francisco. Judd Winick was roommates with Pedro. Pedro who was an HIV positive AIDS educator. This season took place right around the time of "OH MY GOD CAN I GET AIDS FROM SOMEONE IF I SHARE THEIR GLASS!!!! AND OH MY GOD LOOK AT WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE WHEN THEY DIE" It was a lot of all caps freaking out because there wasn't a lot that we knew about the disease. There was lots of seeing what people looked like at the end...but not of the people that were HIV positive and living as normal of a life as they could.

This story, told in comic book form as Winick is a cartoonist, is the story of friendship, education and loss. It talks about stereotypes and how people can overcome them in an instant. I'm not a Real World watcher so didn't know anything about the season going in, but found the book enjoyable and very interesting. I would guess if you had watched that season in particular you would find the book even more compelling.

July is Potter Month

I have been debating what to do with this. In anticipation of the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series due out on July 21st I have been debating what to do with this site as I am rereading the first six books. I didn't want to spend 7 weeks worth of books reviews on the Harry Potter series because I am guessing most people have read them, or if they haven't probably just aren't interested in them.

So I guess I am going to take July as a vacation. I'm still going to count the books as books read on the left hand side of the book bar....but I probably won't include reviews of each book.

We are also watching each movie after I have finished reading that book (Jason is a book ahead of me). Which means we'll probably be a little late going to the see the 5th movie...but as I'm already 1/2 way though the 3rd book...perhaps not.

Peace. Love. and Reading.

Stolen Lives by Malika Oufkir

This story is an autobiographcal account of the life that was lead by Malika Oufkir during the first 40 years of her life. As the oldest daughter of General Oufkier she was very highly regarded in her young years. At the age of 5 she was adopted by the king of Morroco so that the kings daughter who is the same age as Malika would have a friend to play with.

She lived a life most of us can only dream of, with luxuries everywhere and toys and parties and...and yet she missed her own family. At the age of 12 or so she requested to be sent back to her parents which was granted. She still lived a very privileged life traveling around the world for parties and staying out late dancing in clubs in LA, Paris and her own Morroco.

However, soon her life would take a turn that still we can only imagine. When Malika is her her late teens, her father is accused of trying to assassinate the king and is promptly executed. Malika, along with her mother and five siblings are sent into exile. The first prison they are sent to is one eighty degrees from the life they had previously known, they never thought it could get worse. At this point they were still allowed books and clothes and could see each other. After five years there they were sent to a prison where they were put in solitary confinement, the food that was given to them sent gag reflexes up my stomach as I sat on the train reading this book. Their life is unimaginable....and they had to spend ten years living in these hideous conditions. And yet....and yet they survive.

I would like to mail this book to one Paris Hilton and let that spoiled little brat know what prison is like in places other than the special prison for rich folks in Los Angeles. This book pulls at your soul and grips you as you turn the pages thinking it can't get worse than what was written on the previous page. 9/10 from me.....and a suggested must read.

Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen

You know when you read a book and the first thought in your head after you have read only the first ten pages is, "Oh I hope this guy has other books out there". That's what this book is. I dove in and just devored this book not being able to put it down for the last few days. To my joy Hiaasen has lots of other books out there and now I'm going to have to go find all of them.

I picked this book as the first one to read because my Aunt Andrea told me that it was the best one and that after she read it she immediatly went out and got all his books. Again props to the Aunt for suggesting a great read.

The story is about Charles ("Chaz") Perrone who isn't the sharpest pencil in the box. While he and his wife, Joey, are on a cruise celebrating their two year anniversary he takes her for a walk on the deck, proceeds to drop his keys and then throws her overboard. Lucky for Joey she was a championship collegiate swimmer and so survives the fall and the hours that followed in the sea. She makes it to a island that's occupied by Mick Stranahan, an ex-cop, and together the two start to wreak havoc on poor Chaz Perrone who thinks he has gotten away with the perfect murder.

Add into the mix Chaz's body guard Tool who is a giant hairy goon of a man, a detective who doesn't quite believe dear Chaz's story, Chaz's boss Red for which he does bad scientist things and you have the makings of a fantastically funny and entertaining read. Highly recommended from this reader.