God Is In the Pancakes

~

(note: I received this book as part of 1 Arc Tours.)

Summary

(description from ARC)

No one is more surprised than fifteen-year-old Grace Manning herself that she likes her job in the local nursing home. But that has everything to do with her relationship with one of the residents, Mr. Sands, an ex-Marine with Lou Gehrig's disease. He keeps up with Grace's witty banter, teaches her to play poker, allows her to give him a mohawk, acts as a father figure . . . and one day, cheerfully asks her to help him die. Grace tries to avoid the wrenching decision, first by praying for a miracle, and then by stuffing herself with pancakes. Soon she's running away from all feelings, including the new ones she has for her best friend, Eric, who suddenly seems to have a lot of female admirers. But Mr. Sands continues to get worse, and Grace knows this decision is too important to ignore . . .

Review

First off: I mentioned it once, but I probably need to mention again that I received this book as part of the site 1 ARC Tours, where ARCs are sent around to different people and then back to the owner . . . well, just click on the link if you want to know more. Anyways, I received the book 7/10 and really need to mail it today but first I need to find a box or something because I don't think I can afford one of those bubble mailers . . . okay, rambling. On to the book.

God is in the Pancakes starts off with a jolt. The plot is set up in the first chapter, which was a bit refreshing after reading quite a few "oh, let's follow our boring characters through a whole day of, er, exploits"-type books. Like most of my reviews this one is split into 3 parts:

1. PACING

I cannot stress how important this is. When a would've-been-good-(or at least mediocre) book drags on and on, it can really make the book a lot less good (or mediocre). God is in the Pancakes moves at a quick pace and does not suffer for it.

2. CHARACTERS

For the most part, the more main characters (Grace, Mr. Sands and his wife, Grace's mother, etc.) were well-delineated, and though a couple of the more secondary characters seemed rather stock at times, it fit their roles in the book, if that makes any sense. Furthermore, the relationships in this book were amazing. Grace and Mr. Sands' friendship is well-drawn and believable, especially the passage where Mr. Sands explains to Grace why he wanted to keep her a secret from his wife. The way Epstein uses parallels to show Grace that she needs to have a better relationship with her mother, the further (romantic) dilemmas faced by Grace throughout the course of the book, all of it fits into the plot well. Grace herself is a brilliantly drawn protagonist: realistic, funny, sardonic, and unsure of herself. She's deeply flawed and has practically no clue how to operate in 'the real world' and never is it more apparent than in the scenes where she grapples with whether to 'help' Mr. Sands or not. Grace's eventual decision surprised me a little, as did the eventual conclusion, but it all felt real.

3. THIS PASSAGE

I bite down on the inside of my lip. "I don't really think handing out celebrity magazines qualifies as Christian."

"The Lord works in mysterious ways."

(p. 122, uncorrected proof. NOTE: Per Dial Books' requirements I must indicate that my review is based on an uncorrected text, etc.)

Yeah... sorry if you were expecting something deeper.

Verdict? God is in the Pancakes is thoughtful, funny, sad and ruminative, with a heroine forced to make a possibly life-altering decision. Ultimately, the book asks many questions of the reader, most importantly: How far would you go to help a friend?

IF YOU LIKED THIS...

~

Donut Days by Lara Zielin

I could say something like "both are about GOD" but really it's more like "this one's about donuts instead of pancakes." I mean, come on. WHO DOESN'T LIKE DONUTS?

NEW RUBRIC!
Writing: 8/10
MC: 9/10

Other Characters: 8/10
Plot: 9/10

Ending: 10/10

Cover: 8/10

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5


Cover? 4 out of 5 - The cover is okay. Nothing special, really, but the pancake is nice. And it makes me want pancakes. Mmm, pancakes...

Dial Books

May 15, 2010

Hardcover

272 pages

$16.99

ARC received from 1 ARC Tours

Giveaway!...by someone else

First Novels Club is doing a giveaway of the much-anticipated (especially by me) The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May and June here:

http://bit.ly/9n0sR5.

Say the Word (aka Real! Live! Reviews!)

Say the Word

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Yes, I am writing an actual review. Don't adjust your television set.

Summary

Dredging up the past can knock the present right off balance.

The world expects perfection from seventeen-year-old Shawna Gallagher, and for the most part, that’s what they get. She dates the right boys, gets good grades, and follows her father’s every rule. But when her estranged lesbian mother dies, it’s more than perfect Shawna can take. Suddenly, anger from being abandoned ten years ago is resurfacing along with Shawna’s embarrassment over her mother’s other family. As she confronts family secrets and questions from the past, Shawna realizes there’s a difference between doing the perfect thing and doing the right thing.

Shawna’s honest and relatable voice will draw readers in and hold them until the last page in this coming-of-age story. Jeannine Garsee has delivered a compulsively readable second novel, perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen and Laurie Halse Anderson.

Review

Like I am wont to, I loved this book. (Don't worry, I have two negative reviews being cleaned up as we speak for those of you who heart schadenfreude.) There are many reasons for this. I'll split them up:

1. SHORT CHAPTERS

This 360-page book had 121 chapters. Many of them were just one or two pages. Seriously. How can you not love that?

2. CHARACTERS

Jeannine Garsee has done something amazing with Shawna Gallagher. She has made her real. Real does not necessarily mean politically correct, or sure of anything, or even sure of herself--but she is real. Shawna has been struggling with the issues surrounding her mother for years. She doesn't think about it much, at least until the events of STW. When it all begins everything comes surfacing up and it's like an explosion of emotion. Shawna is surprisingly wont to say-- or at least think-- what's on her mind, and sometimes, thanks to all the issues she has, it's harsh, as evidenced in one scene during her mom's funeral when she says several harsh things about gay people. She does this a lot-- not really near the end but especially near the start. Yeah, she isn't perfect. But you're still rooting for her, because she is genuinely a good person-- something that becomes clear in the book's final pages when she...well, she does something I personally think is awesome.

The other characters were amazing, too. Shawna's best friend Lee Lee, Fran (aforementioned lesbian partner) and her sons Schmule and Arye, even Shawna's asshole father were all brilliantly delineated. I really, really hated Shawna's dad and with any luck you will too. Satisfaction guaranteed or your money squandered in endless pursuits of personal pleasure! (Credit to Libba Bray for that last sentence.)

3. PLOT

The plot really worked. I can't explain this without giving away tons of spoilers, but I felt as if it always had flow.

Some subplots didn't work--the romance seemed forced, for instance. And the ending! Wow. I've heard mixed reviews of it--some people loved it, hated it. Personally I loved it: I felt it was the only way the book could've ended satisfactorily.

So here's the verdict: Say the Word is a well-written, thought-provoking book filled with wonderfully delineated characters. Shawna is an awesome protag who, with any luck, you'll like from page one, despite her many (and there are many) flaws. Eventually, by the end, she learns a lot and so do we.

Come on, short chapters!

IF YOU LIKED THIS...

~

Wild Roses by Deb Caletti

Caletti's writing style is similar (enough) to Garsee's-- if more ruminative-- and both are about parent issues, like all of Caletti's (and Sarah Dessen's) books seem to be.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

Honestly, I just wanted to take this opportunity to 'market' WGx2, per se. Seriously. READ IT.

Something, Maybe by Elizabeth Scott

Again with the parent issues. A lot shorter, though.

NEW RUBRIC!
Writing: 9/10
MC: 10/10

Other Characters: 9/10
Plot: 9/10

Ending: 8/10

Cover: 9/10

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5


Cover? 4.5 out of 5 - This is an okay cover. For all intents and purposes it works, and the girl facing out reminds me of Shawna's description. I don't know who the other person is, though--Shawna's mom? One of her 'personalities?' It's kind of left up to interpretation, which really works here.

Bloomsbury USA

March 17, 2009

Hardcover

368 pages

$16.99

Checked out from library.

Challenge Lists

I recently joined two book reading challenges: the 2010 Debut Author Challenge and the GLBT Challenge. The Debut Author challenge challenges one to read at least 12 YA books released in 2010 by debut authors or YA debuts (for instance, if an author has an adult/kids' book already published their YA debut). The GLBT challenge challenges one to read 4/8/12 books by GLBT authors or about GLBT topics. This is an update post on both challenge lists:

Debut Author Challenge

• Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick (YA debut)
• The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk
• The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
• Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
• Split by Swati Avasati

(Only 5 for now, but that's just debuts released in 2010 per contest rules...)

GLBT Challenge

• 7 Days at the Hot Corner by Terry Trueman
• My Heartbeat by Garret Freymann-Weyr
• Tales of the Madman Underground by John Barnes
• Two Parties, One Tux, and a Very Short Film about the Grapes of Wrath by Steven Goldman
• Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
• Say the Word by Jeannine Garsee
• The Less-Dead by April Lurie

Plus depending on the exact specifications of the contest rules Every Little Thing in the World by Nina de Gramont may count. If so, 8 (Pink Triangle level) and if not 7 (almost PTL).

So that's that.

FIFTY-THREE DAYS TO MOCKINGJAY!!! AAA!!!

3 Best beach reads

I discovered this meme at Lost in Books, a fairly awesome site with great memes. (Find out more here: http://imlostinbooks.blogspot.com/2010/06/perfect-beach-reads.html.) Anyways, so this week's meme is 3 Best Beach Reads. The title kind of speaks for itself. Note: This is my personal opinion. Many of you will think I am crazy for what I am about to say. Good news--I do, too. I've lots of inspiration for this post, as I leave for a beach-type vacation tomorrow, so I've got the following 3 all packed up and ready to go.

1) Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

This one is the inexplicable one. Why, you might ask, is this a beach read for you? Well, I can honestly say I have no idea. All I can say is that the mind works in mysterious ways (my other Inexplicable Book I Think Of When I Think Of The Beach is Tamar by Mal Peet, which I'm reading right now--EXCELLENT: def. deserved that Carnegie--and which just evokes beach to me--maybe it's the English cover? idk--Anyways, I'm taking itto the beach. Again...????). But whenever I go to the beach this one goes with me. Longtime readers will know I love Jellicoe Road, a novel about a seventeen-year-old girl at boarding school embroiled in a territory war with neighboring teen factions, infighting in her own house, and the dramas and scandals of the past. It won the 2009 Michael L. Printz Award, which was well-deserved, and although the first, say, 100 pages are kind of confusing the first time around I really think they're worth it. Jellicoe Road is totally unforgettable.

*NOW OUT IN PAPERBACK*

*NOW OUT IN PAPERBACK*

*NOW OUT IN PAPERBACK*

*NOW OUT IN PAPERBACK*

2) Paper Towns by John Green...or any road trip novel that is not On the Road.

Idk why, but I've always found road trip novels really beachish. I guess it's that whole vacay aspect of the thing--call me unimaginative you can. I just put Paper Towns because a) It's the one I'm taking, b) It's John Green, ergo, it's awesome, and c) IT'S PAPER TOWNS!

PAPER TOWNS!

PAPER TOWNS!!

3) Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

This one is actually about the beach. It is, w/o a doubt, one of the best books actually @ the beach that I have ever read. Sarah Ockler's book about loss, lust, love, longing and letting go (5 L's...unavoidable and awesome :D...) is freaking awesome.

So there you have it.

...With a Little Help from the Library of Congress

Okay, so I really need to write reviews. But it takes a while, and I'm really lazy, etc., and stuff like that. So I have decided to divide the books up into five categories:

Definitely Recommended

Probably Recommended

Worth a Look Through

If You Have Nothing Else To Read

Specialized

Today I will be reviewing the

Definitely Recommended books.

Despite your genre preferences, these books are, you know, epic and should be read by everyone. Because they're awesome. If I never get to the other four parts--and the risk is always there :O--you'll at least know of THESE AWESOME ONES. The reviews themselves that I have written tend towards the overuse of words like awesome. Hopefully this helps to get the point across but really it probably doesn't.

It's supposed to, anyway.

~

How to Say Goodbye In Robot (Natalie Standiford)

After moving to Baltimore and enrolling in a private school, high school senior Beatrice befriends a quiet loner with a troubled family history. A Junior Library Guild selection.

This is really an awesome book. I kid you not. There is a radio show, an old car with a name, ages-old family secrets, a non-romance, and a truly realistic ending. Plus it has the magic carpet!

~

Will Grayson, Will Grayson (John Green and David Levithan)

When two teens, one gay and one straight, meet accidentally and discover that they share the same name, their lives become intertwined as one begins dating the other's best friend, who produces a play revealing his relationship with them both.

It's John Green. And David Levithan. If you need any more convincing, there are cats in boxes which belong to Schroedinger! (Well, metaphorically...)

~

The Sky is Everywhere (Jandy Nelson)

In the months after her sister dies, seventeen-year-old Lennie falls into a love triangle and discovers the strength to follow her dream of becoming a musician. A Junior Library Guild selection.

I've already semi-reviewed this one but it's still good nonetheless.

~

Two Parties, One Tux, and a Very Short Film About The Grapes of Wrath (Steven Goldman)

Mitch, a shy and awkward high school junior, negotiates the difficult social situations he encounters, both with girls and with his best friend David, after David reveals to him that he is gay.

This book may have at least half of the funniest quotes ever. Plus it's just awesome.

~

Before I Fall (Lauren Oliver)

After she dies in a car crash, teenage Samantha relives the day of her death over and over again... (limited quote)

This is one of those books that is so much better than its summary makes it sound. DO NOT THINK Groundhog Day. (Though it is mentioned in the book...)

~

Sorta Like a Rock Star (Matthew Quick)

Although seventeen-year-old Amber Appleton is homeless, living in a school bus with her unfit mother, she is a relentless optimist who visits the elderly at a nursing home, teaches English to Korean Catholic women with the use of rhythm and blues music, and befriends a solitary Vietnam veteran and his dog, but eventually she experiences one burden more than she can bear and slips into a deep depression.

This is a ...wow... book. Any expectations I might've had were blown away. This book is just so. freaking. hopeful. It was creative. It was only 355 pages, which was a shame because it was awesome.

~

Marcelo in the Real World (Francisco X. Stork)

Marcelo Sandoval, a seventeen-year-old boy on the high-functioning end of the autistic spectrum, faces new challenges, including romance and injustice, when he goes to work for his father in the mailroom of a corporate law firm.

Everyone thought this one should've won the Printz award last year and to a point I have to agree, I guess. This is an awesome book. Seriously.

~

Hold Still (Nina LaCour)

Ingrid didn't leave a note. Three months after her best friend's suicide, Caitlin finds what she left instead: a journal, hidden under Caitlin's bed. A Junior Library Guild selection. A 2010 William Morris Award finalist.

This is one of those books that is inexplicably tied to another element of the book...okay, by which I mean the drawings. The whole thing is just amazing. BRILLIANT. Love the ending (okay, love all the endings of all 13 of these books, but whatever).

~

How I Live Now (Meg Rosoff)

To get away from her pregnant stepmother in New York City, fifteen-year-old Daisy goes to England to stay with her aunt and cousins, with whom she instantly bonds, but soon war breaks out and rips apart the family while devastating the land. A Junior Library Guild selection. The 2004 Michael L. Printz Award Winner.

This one's an older book, but I hadn't read it until February or so. Word to the wise: the first time you read it read it on the audiobook because a) Kim Mai Guest does an AWESOME job with it, b) it's only like 40000 words or so; thus, it's not that long--only 4.5 hours or something like that, and c) the punctuation (or lack of it) can turn some people off. Read it on audiobook the first time. Trust me, you'll want to read it again, by which point you'll not notice the lack of quotation marks in most of the book (okay, maybe you will, but hopefully you won't care).

~

The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin (Josh Berk)

When Will Halpin transfers from his all-deaf school into a mainstream Pennsylvania high school, he faces discrimination and bullying, but still manages to solve a mystery surrounding the death of a popular football player in his class.

You wouldn't think murder would be funny (of course, you probably would), but this book makes it so. It was really...okay, by now you've sensed a pattern. ALL these books are awesome, but it's the kind of awesome that makes it extremely hard to review. Yay.

~

The Less-Dead (April Lurie)

Sixteen-year-old Noah Nordstrom, whose father is the host of a popular evangelical Christian radio program, believes that the person who has been killing gay teenagers in the Austin, Texas, foster care system, is a regular caller on his dad's show. Includes bibliographical references.

Best. Suspense. Ever. (Well, except for The Shining, but that's no contest.) This is one of those intensely readable books that you can finish in, like, five hours (well, I did at any rate). A really great book.

~

Split (Swati Avasthi)

A teenaged boy thrown out of his house by his abusive father goes to live with his older brother, who ran away from home years ago to escape the abuse.

This is one of those books that once you get into the second chapter or so it's extremely hard to put down. Swati Avasthi has managed to make this not just an issue book but just a book that so happens to be completely freaking awesome.

~

American Born Chinese (Gene Luen Yang)

Alternates three interrelated stories about the problems of young Chinese Americans trying to participate in the popular culture. Presented in comic book format. The 2007 Michael L. Printz Award winner.

There are some people who don't like graphic novels and 'visual' books. I recommend this one to them too due to the fact that its sheer awesome makes it impossible to pass up.

~

And so on, and so forth.

Haven't posted in a while...

Okay.

So I haven't posted in a while, but I have been doing a lot lately. I've read tons of awesome books this year, including Will Grayson, Will Grayson, which I wrote and then rewrote and then rewrote and then rewrote and then posted and then rewrote and then rewrote and then commented on and then rewrote and then rewrote and then rewrote a review of until finally I just had to delete it (lesson learned: FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE SO NOT EVERYTHING!), so I definitely recommend it, one of the best books I've read all year, AMAZING!

Additionally, this (look to your left) has to be the best debut novel this year. Hands down. Even more so than Before I Fall, which I admittedly loved tons and TONS and you should definitely read it. But I swear, this one is VERY epic.

The Sky Is Everywhere is about a girl named Lennie whose sister dies of an arrhythmia and how she copes with that, romantic struggles, and just figuring out who she and everyone around her is. IT'S AMAZING. The writing is clear, beautiful, earth-shaking, and intensely quotable. BEST DEBUT THIS YEAR. Notably, Lennie plays clarinet, which makes her even more awesome.

Other reviews...

As longtime readers know, I am a huge Deb Caletti fan and was very excited for her new novel, The Six Rules of Maybe. It didn't disappoint--takes a well-deserved spot as my fourth favorite Caletti novel (after Indigo Skye, Secret Life and Wild Roses, commonly known by me only as The Untouchable Three). For all you other Caletti fans reading this, she has a new book coming probably 2011 called Stay:

Also, the Readers Choice contest kind of fizzled out due to my epically failing and losing interest...sorry...

Well!

In other news, there are TONS of epic new books coming May and June. Rounding out May 1 is Matthew Quick's Sorta Like a Rock Star, which, aside from being the only YA contemporary from Little, Brown for the first six months of the year, is hilarious, sad, funny, and hopeful, or so I am told. Susane Colasanti released a new book this week, Something Like Fate, which is about the same thing as The Unwritten Rule. I look forward to comparing the two. :) From DIAL, the epic people who brought you The Sky is Everywhere, The Vast Fields of Ordinary, My Most Excellent Year, Willow, and Impossible, come two more epic books: God is in the Pancakes by Robin Epstein and A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner. One's May and the other's June, I believe. There's this one I just found out about called The Half-Life of Planets by Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin that sounds really interesting (pubs June 15 from Hyperion); a verse book called After the Kiss from Pure author Terra Elan McVoy (two words: SECOND PERSON!!! And it doesn't seem cheesy!!!) that I read six pages of on Amazon and was hooked on; The View from the Top by Hilary Frank, who is one of those authors I Always Meant To Read But Never Had The Time To (now's my chance, I guess)...anyways, it sounds positively delicious, for lack of a better phrase; and finally, THE TENSION OF OPPOSITES! by Kristina McBride, which I have been waiting for FOR FOREVER. It sounds awesome!

Of course there are still books from Jan and Feb I still haven't gotten my hands on, but come on. DIAL! SUSANE COLASANTI! OPPOSITES! Who can resist the allure?