Fledgling Photography (3)

These are some pictures that I used a few months ago for my Great Gatsby project at school. Unless you've read the book, and even if you have, the photos might not make sense, and I'm not gonna repeat my two page paper explaining them to you. Create your own interpretation!

This is my brother, and okay, I'll just say it--the leaves represent the American Dream slowly slipping out of his (Gatsby's) hands.

This is my brother and his friend running rather queerly, but I like it, and the effect from Photoshop.

I love this one of my brother jumping off a swing-sweet, huh?

Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien

Ann Burden is sixteen and, as far as she knows, the only person left in the world. The nuclear radiation that destroyed the rest of the world has not touched the valley where she lives, and so she has remained, surviving the best she knows how, for the past year. The smoke from a distant campfire shatters Ann’s solitude. Someone else is still alive, and making his way toward the valley: John Loomis, a scientist, protected from the radiation by a “safe-suit”. He asserts his will almost immediately. And as his behavior becomes more and more extreme—finally culminating in violent confrontation—Ann must choose how she will live, in a world unlike any she has known.

This book has been on my “To Read” list for over a year and I was finally able to find a copy on BookMooch. It was definitely worth the points! Robert C. O’Brien’s legendary novel did not disappoint. It was well-written, page-turning, and narrated by a great heroine. I was a bit surprised that the action didn’t start until about ¾ of the way through, but surprisingly the descriptions of how a girl lives all alone in a valley were really interesting and added greatly to the story. The moment John Loomis arrives and ventures into Ann’s house, you know something is up-the hints toward his peculiar intentions propelled me to turn the pages and see if the man could be trusted.

In My Mailbox (2)

I've gotten a lot of books in the past few days mostly products of birthday money and BookMooch. Here they are:

BookMooch:

The Black Sheep-Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout

Fifteen-year-old Kendra, an only child, has grown up in a sterile and highly controlled Manhattan household. As she sees it, her distant parents, both bankers, are simply grooming her to assume their overprogrammed urban lifestyle. Frustrated, she enters and wins an essay contest that qualifies her to be a costar on a reality show, The Black Sheep, in which she changes places with a West Coast girl from a completely different type of family. The Mulligan household consists of a pair of aging hippies and their six children, one of whom is an attractive boy with a passion for saving threatened sea otters—a cause that Kendra quickly adopts. She discovers that it is difficult to be an amorous activist—and nearly impossible to find your true self—when you're being tailed 24/7 by a camera crew and a pushy producer.

Never Let Me Go-Kazuo Ishiguro

Kathy, Tommy and Ruth are students at Hailsham, a very exclusive, very strange English private school. They are treated well in every respect, but as they grow older they come to realize that there is a secret that haunts their lives: Their teachers regard them with fear and pity, and they don't know why. Once they learn the secret it is already far, far too late for them to save themselves.

Bought:

The Poison Apples-Lily Archer

We all know the stories of Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel. But have you ever heard of Alice Bingley-Beckerman, Reena Paruchuri, or Molly Miller? Of course you haven’t. Not yet. What these girls have in common with their fairy tale sisters is this: they are the stepdaughters of three very evil stepmothers. And they’re not happy about it. They think they are alone in their unhappiness until they arrive at Putnam Mount McKinsey, a posh boarding school located in lovely rural Massachusetts. Here is where they will plot their revenge. But first they have to meet.

Distant Waves: A Novel of the Titanic-Suzanne Weyn

Science, spiritualism, history, and romance intertwine in Suzanne Weyn's newest novel. Four sisters and their mother make their way from a spiritualist town in New York to London, becoming acquainted with journalist W. T. Stead, scientist Nikola Tesla, and industrialist John Jacob Astor. When they all find themselves on the Titanic, one of Tesla's inventions dooms them...and one could save them.

They all look so good! I don't know how I'm going to decide which to read first!

Sisters in Sanity by Gale Forman

For sixteen-year-old Brit Hemphill, it's hard to know who she can trust. Convinced she's out of control, her father has sentenced her to Red Rock: a center for supposedly rebellious teens, where the therapy consists of name-calling and the girls who get privileges are the ones who rat out their peers. But then Brit meets V, Bebe, Martha, and Cassie—four girls who keep her from going over the edge. Together, they'll hold on to their sanity and their sisterhood despite the bleak Red Rock reality.
I think a good word to describe this book is refreshing…I hadn’t read a book in quite a while that is filled with so much girl power! Gayle Forman’s characters are fresh and interesting, each with their own obstacles to overcome. The upbeat writing and snappy dialogue keep the pages turning, as well as the adorable romance mixed in. At first I noticed similarities to School for Dangerous Girls by Eliot Schrefer, but it quickly became a novel all its own—much milder and more uplifting, though it does show some of the atrocities of facilities like Red Rock. If you’re looking for a quick read with an interesting setting, kick-a$$ characters, and lots of girl power, then Sisters in Sanity is the book for you!

Waiting on Wednesday

Eyes Like Stars: Theatre Illuminata, Act I by Lisa Mantchev

All her world's a stage. Beatrice Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater. She is not an orphan, but she has no parents. She knows every part, but has no lines of her own. Until now.

Enter Stage Right

NATE. Dashing pirate. Will do anything to protect Bertie.

COBWEB, MOTH, MUSTARD SEED, and PEASEBLOSSOM. Four tiny and incredibly annoying fairies. BERTIE’S sidekicks.

ARIEL. Seductive air spirit and Bertie’s weakness. The symbol of impending doom.

BERTIE. Our heroine.

Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the characters of every place ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.

I have been patiently awaiting the arrival of this book--it looks absolutely mesmerizing! This is going to be a great summer read for those nice, windy days. Lisa Mantchev's debut novel will be released July 7th.

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Lia and Cassie were best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies. But now Cassie is dead. Lia’s mother is busy saving other people’s lives. Her father is away on business. Her stepmother is clueless. And the voice inside Lia’s head keeps telling her to remain in control, stay strong, lose more, weigh less. If she keeps going this way—thin, thinner, thinnest—maybe she’ll disappear altogether.

Absolutely everything about this book is chilling-the setting, the characters, the cover, and Laurie Halse Anderson’s bitter descriptions of a young girl’s descent into the world of anorexia. Daniel Kraus from Amazon stated in his review, “Anderson illuminates a dark but utterly realistic world where every piece of food is just a caloric number, inner voices scream “NO!” with each swallow, and self-worth is too easily gauged: “I am the space between my thighs, daylight shining through.” Struck-through sentences, incessant repetition, and even blank pages make Lia’s inner turmoil tactile, and gruesome details of her decomposition will test sensitive readers.” His words couldn’t be more true. You could easily make the argument that Wintergirls is a horror story, filled with death, ghosts, and startling prose that will leave you curled up in a blanket feeling the chill radiating off the pages. This book isn’t necessarily one you enjoy, but one that changes the way you look at the people around you, and one that you give to everyone you know.

In My Mailbox

Yes, I have decided to jump on the IMM train. I had refrained from it before because of how sporadically I received new books, but since I have recently joined BookMooch (absolutely amazing concept, I love it) I find that I am getting more and more books each week. Mind you, my IMM posts will most likely not be on an exact day every week, but more like whenever I have a good bunch I want to show off. I mostly receive books from BookMooch, the library, and bookstores when I have the cash. So, there you have it...

In My Mailbox was started by Kristi at The Story Siren, who was inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie)

BookMooch:

Red Sea by Diane Tullson

Libby, 14, is on a yearlong sailing adventure with her mother and stepfather, Duncan. Stuck in Djibouti awaiting favorable seas, she makes her discontent known to everyone, at every turn. She deliberately dilly-dallies on the day of departure, which causes her boat to miss traveling with the flotilla as planned. Sailing through dangerous waters, Libby's family is alone when pirates attack. Duncan is killed, and her mother is badly wounded. The teen is left to her own devices to survive, nurse her mother, and find the right course to safety.

The Creek by Jennifer L. Holm

Caleb Devlin is a legend on Mockingbird Lane, the boy who terrorized an entire town before he got sent away. They say he hurt other kids, tortured animals, set fires, and did things grown-ups speak of only in whispers. But that was all before Penny and her little brother moved here.
Now Caleb's back, older and more dangerous than ever, and terrible things have started happening again. The whole town knows he's responsible, but the police can't do anything without proof. So Penny and her friends have no choice but to try to stop him themselves.
Except now he's after them.

Early Birthday Presents from Norah:

Hit and Run by Lurlene McDaniel

It was an accident. But when the people involved don’t come forward, doesn’t it become a crime?Four young people whose lives intersect, who never dreamed of hurting each other. Each makes choices that cannot be changed. Each needs to take the consequences of those choices, to find love, to face reality, and to go on.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Seventeen-year-old Mia is faced with some tough ones: Stay true to her first love— music—even if it means losing her boyfriend and leaving her family and friends behind? Then one February morning Mia goes for a drive with her family, and in an instant, everything changes. Suddenly, all the choices are gone, except one. And it’s the only one that matters.

I'm uber excited for all of these books! And be expecting a large IMM post to come-my birthdays tomorrow and I'm anticipating quite few small rectangular packages, if you know what I mean! (sorry If I Stay is off to the side, I've tried and can't seem to fix it)