Well, it has obviously been awhile since I have updated this blog. I really haven't felt the need to post anything since, for the most part, I vent my frustrations, happy thoughts, challenges on facebook. It is so much easier (and addictive!) So I am going to change up what I write here just a bit. Instead of writing about me, I am going to write about books that I am reading/have read recently and my thoughts on these books. I have been reading a lot of YA lit recently (starting with Twilight) and then some not so YA Lit (Sookie). My reading has picked up tremendously recently because I am on the committee for the Teen Louisiana Young Readers Choice Award (or LYRC) and we now have a faculty book club at school.
So what to write about first? Well, I think it goes without saying I LOVE Twilight (that is probably an understatment!) but I recently read a book that I think surpasses that. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (pronounced Steve-Otter). Here is a snippet of what it is about from her site.
"For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human... until the cold makes him shift back again.
Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human—or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever. "
It's different than Twilight (wolves not vampires) but the same (forbidden love). Her writing is simply beautiful. I think it is better than Twilight in many ways but at the same time, it invokes many of the same feelings, longings, desires.
I liked it so much, I purchased her first two books (Shiver was her third novel) without reading anything about them. Lament and its stand alone sequel Ballad (stand alone because it takes one of the secondary characters from Lament and makes him the protagonist. You don't necessarily need to read Lament to understand Ballad, but it helps.) If you are interested in learning more about these books and the author, her site is www.maggiestiefvater.com. She has a blog that she updates almost daily if not every other day, FAQs and information on each of the books. Oh, and if you do read Shiver and on the last page you are like "PLEASE GOD TELL ME SHE DID NOT ENED THE STORY THIS WAY???" Fear not! The sequel, Linger, comes out in July.
That's my two cents for now...
