In My Mailbox (2)

Lovely meme started by Kristi over at The Story Siren, who was influenced by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie.

And I took a picture of all of them this time! Because I didn't feel like saving the uploading 12 different book covers... call me lazy. :P

So starting from top left:

The Center of the Universe: Yep, That Would Be Me by Anita Liberty

I CAN'T FIX THE WORLD.
I CAN ONLY SIT BACK AND CRITICIZE IT.

Welcome to the story of my life. Well, at least the story of my junior and senior years of high school. It''s a profound, touching, and hilarious (if I do say so myself) tale told through cunning poems, revelatory diary entries, perspicacious (look it up) word definitions, shrewd bits of advice, and off-the-cuff (but brilliant) insights.

You'll probably relate to a lot of it. Especially the parts about hating my parents, never feeling cool enough, failing my first attempt at the SATs, having an incredibly romantic (but one-sided) relationship with the coolest guy in school, and getting hexed by my ex-best friend who became a Wiccan.

And if you can't relate? Well, step to the back of that humongous line. You''ll probably be right behind my family. If you''re lucky, my mom''ll bring snacks.

How can I be who I am and who my family wants me to be when the person I am wouldn''t be caught dead with the person my family wants me to be?

I thought when I read the title of this book, it would be like The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things. I just thought the protagonist would be -ahem- plus size, and would be dealing with that issue. It sounds like the protagonist has different problems though, and actually, I find the synopsis quite witty and interesting. So I'll probably try this book out.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

A dystopian thriller follows a boy and girl on the run from a town where all thoughts can be heard — and the passage to manhood embodies a horrible secret.

Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him — something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn't she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? Propelled by Todd''s gritty narration, readers are in for a white-knuckle journey in which a boy on the cusp of manhood must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he truly is.

I decided to get this book from my library after I read a brilliant review of it. I sadly can't remember who wrote it (sorry!)...

The Season by Sarah Maclean

Seventeen-year-old Lady Alexandra Stafford is strong-willed and sharp-tongued and not interested in marriage. Unfortunately, her mother is determined to marry her off to someone safe, respectable, wealthy, and almost certainly boring. But Alex is much more interested in adventure than romance. Somehow, between ball gown fittings, dances, and dinner parties, Alex, along with her two best friends, Ella and Vivi, manages to get entangled in her biggest scrape yet. It?s a mystery brimming with espionage, murder, suspicion, and true love. Romance and danger fill the air, as this year?s Season begins!

I'm kind of interested... but also not. The reviews I've read about it say that it's okay, but not amazing. And I'm not too sure how accurate it will be. I may try it though. Plus, the protagonist has the same first name as me. Although I'm not too sure if that's a turn on or turn off for me. XD

Taken By Storm by Angely Morisson

Leesie Hunt has many rules: No kissing. No sex. No dating outside the Mormon faith.

When Michael Waldenaa deep-sea diver who lost his parents in a violent hurricaneaarrives in town, Leesie sees someone who needs her. They fall for one another, even though his dreams are tied to the depths of the ocean and hers to salvation above.

Will their intense chemistry be too strong to resist? Leesie and Michael must make the hardest choice of their lives: whether to follow their beliefs or their hearts.

It sounds like a good romance novel. I'm not too into the religious part of it, since I'm not a huge fan of reading about religion, although I do find it interesting. If it's not too preachy, I'll read it I guess.

Somebody by Nancy Springer

At the age of fifteen, a girl who has spent most of her life moving around the country with her father and brother remembers her real name, Sherica, and is moved to search the Internet to learn the truth about her mother and her own past.

Interesting... and it's a thin book. I've never even heard of this book though.

Absolutely Maybe by Lisa Yee
Meet Maybelline Mary Katherine Mary Ann Chestnut, named for two Miss Americas and her mother Chessy's favorite brand of mascara. Chessy teaches the students in her charm school her Seven Select Rules for Young Ladies, but she won't tell Maybe who her real father is -- or protect her from her latest scuzzball boyfriend. So Maybe hitches a ride to California with her friends Hollywood and Thammasat Tantipinichwong Schneider (aka Ted) -- and what she finds there is funny, sad, true, and inspiring . . . vintage Lisa Yee.

Sounds cute. And... a maybe road trip? I'm not too sure if the book focuses on the road trip or on the life in California itself. I'll probably have to read to find out. ;)

Suicide Notes by Michael T Ford

I'm not crazy. I don't see what the big deal is about what happened. But apparently someone does think it's a big deal because here I am. I bet it was my mother. She always overreacts.

Fifteen-year-old Jeff wakes up on New Year's Day to find himself in the hospital. Make that the psychiatric ward. With the nutjobs. Clearly, this is all a huge mistake. Forget about the bandages on his wrists and the notes on his chart. Forget about his problems with his best friend, Allie, and her boyfriend, Burke. Jeff's perfectly fine, perfectly normal, not like the other kids in the hospital with him. Now they've got problems. But a funny thing happens as his forty-five-day sentence drags on—the crazies start to seem less crazy.

Compelling, witty, and refreshingly real, Suicide Notes is a darkly humorous novel from award-winning author Michael Thomas Ford that examines that fuzzy line between "normal" and the rest of us.

I like the synopsis of this book. There seems to be a lot of books about kids in institutions, hospitals, and whanot. Which I like.

Sleepaway Girls by Jen Colonita

When Sam's best friend gets her first boyfriend, she's not ready to spend the summer listening to the two of them call each other "pookie." Sick of being a third wheel, Sam applies to be a counselor-in-training at Whispering Pines camp in the New York Catskills. But what she doesn't realize is that it's not going to be all Kumbaya sing-alongs and gooeys'mores. If Ashley, the alpha queen of Whispering Pines, doesn't ruin Sam's summer, then her raging crush on the surfer-blond and flirtatious Hunter just might. At least she has playful Cole, who's always teasing her, but is oh-so-comfortable to hang out with, and the singular gang of girls that become fast friends with Sam-they call themselves the Sleepaway Girls.

This is by the same author as Secrets of My Hollywood life, which is cute. Sleepaway Girls sounds like a cute summer read.

How To Make a Wave by Lisa Hurst-Archer

Delia keeps people away - she thinks she''s ugly, she thinks her family is weird; her mom took off and went to India when Delia was a little girl. Delia keeps her distance from others though she has a good friend in Aunt Shirley who helps her to realize that all people have hurts and problems. Through her conversations with Shirley and her explorations in art class, Delia uncovers memories of a car accident, which lead her to discover a hurtful secret at the centre of her family.

Shirley is compassionate and honest, though she doesn''t allow Delia to wallow in self-pity and anger. She shares with Delia her own hurts and disappointments and so does the art teacher, Ms. Murti. Delia discovers that she''s been self-absorbed and has built walls to separate herself from others.

Gradually, she is able to accept truth, and to be honest about her pain. She is able to consider that life is full of terrible beautiful aching mystery and that sometimes a coincidence is more than coincidence, it may have to do with something greater, with the alignment of universal forces - with the making of a wave.

I'd never heard of this book either. Just another book I randomly requested from my library... but it sounds pretty good.

Same Difference by Siobhan Vivian
Emily needs a change of scenery. She's been pegged as the arty girl by the kids in her school, even her own friends. There's some truth to that, but there's also more to the way she sees the world than drawing or painting. Nobody seems to understand, and that's not going to change any time soon. So when Emily gets the chance to go to an art program in Philadelphia for the summer, she jumps at it. A new cast of characters enters her life, and suddenly she has to figure out who she wants to be. She's gone from the suburbs where everyone's trying to be the same to a school where everyone is trying to be unique. The rules may have changed, but a lot of the pressures remain the same. With wit and empathy, Siobhan Vivian goes straight to the heart of a teen girl's search for identity including the pain and heartache we have to go through to figure out who we are.

Seems like a great book about trying to understand yourself and discovering what you want. A coming of age novel, if you will.

Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before by David Yoo

If Albert Kim has learned one thing in his tragic adolescence, it's that God (probably a sadistic teenaged alien) does not want him to succeed at Bern High. By the end of sophomore year, Al is so tired of humiliation that he's chosen to just forget girls and high school society in general, and enjoy the Zen-like detachment that comes from being an intentional loser.

Then he meets Mia Stone, and all the repressed hormones come flooding back. Mia, his co-worker at the Bern Inn, is adorable, popular, and most intimidatingly, the ex- long-term girlfriend of Ivy-bound, muscle-bound king of BHS and world class jerk, Ryan Stackhouse. But -- chalk it up to the magic of Al's inner beauty -- by the end of a summer vacuuming hotel rooms and goofing off together, he and Mia are officially "something." Albert barely has time to ponder this miracle before the bomb drops: Ryan has been diagnosed with cancer, and he needs Mia's support, i.e. constant companionship. True, he''s lost weight and he's getting radiation, but that doesn't make him any less of a jerk. And to Albert, it couldn''t be more apparent that Ryan is using his cancer to steal Mia back. With the whole town rallying behind Ryan like he's a fallen hero, and Mia emotionally confused and worried for Ryan, Al''s bid for love is not a popular campaign. In fact, it''s exactly like driving the wrong way on a five-lane highway.

In this desperately funny novel, David Yoo tells an authentic story of first love, and therein captures the agony, the mania, the kicking and screaming that define teenage existence.

I actually got this book out from my library before but never had time to read it. The description sounds really good though, so I got it again. :)

Skunk Girl by Sheba Karim

If Nina Khan were to rate herself on the unofficial Pakistani prestige point system - the one she's sure all the aunties and uncles use to determine the most attractive marriage prospects for their children - her scoring might go something like this:

+2 points for getting excellent grades

-3 points for failing to live up to expectations set by genius older sister

+4 points for dutifully obeying parents and never, ever going to parties, no matter how antisocial that makes her seem to everyone at Deer Hook High

-1 point for harboring secret jealousy of her best friends, who are allowed to date like normal teenagers
+2 points for never drinking an alcoholic beverage
-10 points for obsessing about Asher Richelli, who talks to Nina like she's not a freak at all, even though he knows that she has a disturbing line of hair running down her back

In this wryly funny debut novel, the smart, sassy, and utterly lovable Nina Khan tackles friends, family, and love, and learns that it's possible to embrace two very different cultures - even if things can get a little bit, well, "hairy."

Lauren read this book and reviewed it. She really liked it, so I figured I should give it a try. She has good tastes. Although she doesn't like John Green, so I really have to question her opinions.

And that's all. XD I really need to get reading. But I've got so much homework... Oh the agony. What do I choose? Homework, books, homework, books? Really, I'm so torn. My brain tells me to be smart and just do my homework. My spirit tells me to relax and read and have fun. Gaah. What I'm doing now is trying to do both, and it's failing. It's pretty much, I'm not doing much of either...