Since July 4th I've read several new books.
7. The City of Ember (YA) by Jeanne DuPrau. This book is set in a world underground. The city of Ember is a completely self-sufficient city, and has been for centuries, but finally the city's electricity source is dying. While many citizens live in fear and panic, two young adults know that there must be a way out. Lina and Doon struggle against the unknown and the dictatorial mayor to find hope and life.
Really, I had little patience for this book until the last third of it. I felt it was slow-paced and my own eagerness to read didn't kick in until the two children are on their way out of the city. I was taken aback by my lack of enthusiasm; the book gets rave reviews and the movie trailer looks excellent. I think that many people would enjoy this book, but don't think that you are going to be getting the same quality of book as The Giver.
8. The Door to December by Dean Koontz. A fun mystery about a paranormal experience. Interesting background information about sensory deprivation. The chapters alternate between focusing on Linda and Melanie McCaffrey and the archetypal detective (brooding, lonely, protective of women and children due to some trauma in his own past). Melanie, a young girl, had been kidnapped many years before the start of the novel. Forced to undergo psychological torture, Melanie is nearly catatonic when she is finally discovered. But the detective must not only track down the culprits, but also find out the cause of the psychogeist that is also troubling them. Like I said, a fun read. Thanks, Grandma!
9. The Luxe (YA) by Anna Godbersen. A YA read for older teens, this is a great book that hopes to mimic Edith Wharton. (The author even has a few lines from The Age of Innocence on the front page.) A story about two high society girls in turn of the century New York. Also like Wharton, it involves high society individuals who can't love the ones they want due to social codes and social hierarchy. There's the usual wheeling, dealing, and trickery also involved. And the book is exquisitely detailed and researched in regards to dress, dialogue, and social codes and mores.
Unlike Wharton, the book has a thoroughly happy and predictable ending, which is one reason why Wharton's works are so weighty and poignant. Godbersen's ending is too easy. Not one person gets hurts - except for the mother who is one of the few characters of concern who doesn't know that her beautiful oldest daughter faked her own death. There is also the improbability of a high society girl making the decision to search her her true love (the carriage driver) on the West Coast. Come on. How often does this happen? How would a girl of 17 who has lived the most sheltered life just hope to find her lover? In an age without Google or phones? I was left with the pressing question of how such a socialite would bear her new life. A fun read but not quality. This is just Gossip Girl set a century back - and a little less nasty.
I just learned that this is to be a series book. BTW, I find the title lacking anything in terms of poetry, meaning, or reflection.
10. Second Nature by Alice Hoffman. I've read 4 of her books so far: two YA and two adult books. I've enjoyed them all. She is able to infuse an ethereal quality into her books. More than that, she's able to present almost mystical/magical situations that thoroughly capture me. While her prose may not be poetic (such as Donna Jo Napoli's), it is hypnotic.
Before I go on about this book, I would like to highly recommend The Ice Queen, which was one of the best reads ever.
Stephen is a man who was raised by wolves. Discovered in a forest, he has been brought to a psychiatric hospital in NY. Robin Moore finds him while visiting her brother, a doctor. Without thinking, she sympathizes with his imprisoned plight, she secretively manages to remove him from the ward. Robin takes him home and nurtures him.
This book is great. Much better than one would ever expect from a wolf-man romance. Honest to God, the premise sounds horrible and loony, but in practice this book rocked.
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