erincathryn's Fantastical Journey to 75

Welcome to my wild and wonderful adventure!

My quest is to read 75 books in 2013. As of April 1, 2013, I have read 28.

Side goals:
Read the Milennium Series (Stieg Larsson)
- The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
- The Girl Who Played With Fire
- The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest
Finish reading the Wheel of Time series (Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson)
- Crossroads of Twilight
- Knife of Dreams
- The Gathering Storm
- Towers of Midnight
- A Memory of Light
- New Spring
Finish reading the Outlander series (Diana Gabaldon)
- Drums of Autumn
- The Fiery Cross
- A Breath of Snow and Ashes
- An Echo in the Bone

January: - 13 books
1. Every Day by David Levithan
2. The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
3. Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult
4. Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
5. How to Blog a Book by Nina Amir
6. The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee (Book Club)
7. Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor
8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
9. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon
10. Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
11. Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr
12. Castle In The Air by Diana Wynne Jones
13. Infected by Scott Sigler

February: - 8 books
14. Saints Astray by Jacqueline Carey
15. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (Book Club)
16. The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan
17. Rampant by Diana Peterfreund
18. Mr. Monster by Dan Wells
19. The Hollow City by Dan Wells
20. House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones
21. Wide Open by Deborah Coates

March: - 7 books
22. The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken (Book Club)
23. Looking for Alaska by John Green
24. I Don't Want To Kill You by Dan Wells
25. The Giver by Lois Lowry (Book Club)
26. Naked in Death by J.D. Robb
27. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
28. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (Book Club)

April: - 24 books (15 Graphic Novels)
29. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Book Store by Robin Sloan
30. Girl Genius Volume 1 by Phil Foglio
31. Locke and Key, Volume 1 by Joe Hill
32. The Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye by Robert Kirkman
33. Fragments by Dan Wells
34. V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
35. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Future For You by Joss Whedon
36. Level Up by Geme Luen Yang
37. The Golden Twine by Jo Rioux
38. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wolves at the Gate by Joss Whedon
39. Maus by Art Spiegelman
40. Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey (Book Club)
41. Black Orchid by Neil Gaiman
42. Uzumaki by Junji Ito
43. Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter
44. The Walking Dead: Miles Behind Us by Robert Kirkman
45. The Walking Dead: Safety Behind Bars by Robert Kirkman
46. Locke and Key: Head Games by Joe Hill
47. The Walking Dead: The Heart's Desire by Robert Kirkman
48. The Walking Dead: The Best Defense by Robert Kirkman
49. The Friday Society by Adrienne Kress
50. Grim Tuesday by Garth Nix
51. Forever Neverland by Heather Killough-Walden
52. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Currently Reading:
City of Bones by Cassandra Care
Glory in Death by J.D. Robb

Hi @erincathryn! Are you planning to continue the Prydain series?

> 3
Eventually. It was a re-read from when I was younger. :)

Welcome! You've got some good goals for the year.

Now reading Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

So, April has been Graphic Novel month. With performing in the local opera (Aida) I have not had much time or energy for full length novels. Plus, with full body makeup, books are hard to handle. I don't want orange smears all over my beloved books.

Opera closes tonight, so hopefully I will be back on track with novels soon. And with reviews, which I am horribly behind on.

The Giver by Lois Lowry
Read: March 10, 2013
Book club selection – dystopia genre

My first thought upon completing this book was that it belonged alongside the likes of 1984. I was actually quite stunned to find it had been published in my lifetime.

The Giver is a really interesting book to me, because it sparks so much discussion among those who have read it. I read it over a month ago, so some of the finer details are already fuzzy, but I recall thinking it wasn’t really a children’s book. Then I encountered people who felt it was too simplified, which is well within their right to think of course, but hard to determine. Where do we draw the line?

I don’t dabble in politics much (or really, at all) so the claims of The Giver being simply a piece of anti-socialism propaganda are a little outside of my realm of comfort and knowledge. But I will say it is hardly the first time a book has shaken things up in the political sense, and I doubt it will be the last.

For me, I enjoyed The Giver. The quick change from utopia to dystopia is not something I have seen very often, at least in contemporary works, and it was a really refreshing change. I find a lot of the dystopian novels I read are very cut and dried that they are dystopian. There is not something missing, there is not something more. Yet, here we have a distinct lack that is pointed out in a big way. I don’t want to give away the whole book, so I won’t go into any more detail, but I loved the way it was told.

In some ways, The Giver is very much a children’s novel. The characters are not really delved into very much, though I was very appreciative that Jonas was portrayed very much as a standard young man. He didn’t read as older or younger than his years, which is something that can be hard to do when writing a younger character… especially in a situation where the world they are dealing with is so heavy.

The writing was technically fine, and I enjoyed the narrative voice. It kept the story moving at a good pace.

The story of The Giver is hard to define. I really wanted more details, and that is where I feel it very much fell flat. Given more details, more worldbuilding, this novel could have been truly magnificent. And the ending was the kind that drives readers insane, and not in a good way.

Bottom Line: A children’s utopian/dystopian novel surrounded in so many opinions that I hesitate to add my own voice. I feel like you will either really like it or really not, and I encourage you to pick it up and see which category you fall into.