Teen Review: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Today's recommendation is from another of our awesome Glendale teens: The Fault In Our Stars.

Wanna to see your own review here?  Fill out our What Did You Just Read form today! 

What Did You Read? 

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.

I'd say this book was *mostly* about... 

An adventure, a love story, cancer story.

This book's main character(s)...

Should be my best friends, date me, and have had the worst times ever, but they also inspired me. I couldn't pick one 

If others were interested in this book, I'd tell them...

BUY ALL THE COPIES.

Any other thoughts about this book?

This is my all time favorite book, and John Green is the best author ever!

Teen review: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Our next recommendation is from another Glendale teen, and is one that is sure to make you tear up: The Fault in Our Stars. 

Wanna to see your own review here?  Fill out our What Did You Just Read form today!

What Did You Read? 

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

I'd say this book was *mostly* about... 

An adventure; a love story; true stories, bro;  fight to survive

This book's main character(s)...

Had a rough time

If others were interested in this book, I'd tell them...

Check it out RIGHT NOW!

If I Stay

This month for Shelf Discovery, we read If I Stay by Gayle Forman.
In case you don't know what this book is all about, here's a brief synopsis. Mia has a wonderful family, a love that is rocky at the moment, but strong, a best friend, and is a talented cellist who may be attending Julliard. Then the car accident occurs and she spends 24 hours in coma trying to decide to stay or to go. The story is written in first person present tense with lots of flashbacks telling the back story of the characters and the heartache she is feeling. 

The discussion was a small one, but very interesting. The paperback copy has discussion questions, but they felt very school-oriented which wasn't very satisfying. Instead we discussed how parents are portrayed in teen literature. For the most part, in teen literature, parents are non-entities. In this one and in Fault in our Stars, the parents are strong characters in their own rights. What do you think?

We also discussed the music in the book which is a character in and of itself. Finally, we talked about the upcoming movie. 

Next month we're reading The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. Pick up your copy at the adult service desk if you want to join us!

We've been neglectful...

Shame on us for not updating the blog in a more timely manner. We mean to, really, we do! It just seems to get swallowed up in our other job duties. I plan to try better this year. Here's to 2014!

Last night, a few former teen librarians met up and watched The Book Thief movie. I had been looking forward in a sort of excited but also melancholy way. How do you get excited to see a movie about being a regular German girl during the Nazi regime? Plus, we all had read the book so we know that the movie should be a Kleenex worthy film.

I was not disappointed. I loved the adaptation. It kept the meat of the book and more importantly, the spirit of the book. The movie does limit the narrator--Death's -- role, but I was fine with that because honestly, Death was a bit of a jerk sometimes in the book. The movie passed one final test for me--did it make me want to read the book? Yes, it did. I want to go back into that world Markus Zusak created with his wonderful array of words and re-live the heartbreak all over again.

Can I just say--I like the German edition book cover (Amazon.com for the image) better than the US edition with the dominoes? And finally, I really want to read Zusak's next book. It looks like it may now come out in fall, 2015.

Next, team building movie outing? Fault in our stars, perhaps?

Read it before you See it

Okay, I'm going to be perfectly honest. I only read Cowboys and Aliens because I like Daniel Craig and I wanted to know more about the movie. If you have no idea about the movie then you can watch the trailer. After watching the trailer and reading the graphic novel I think the movie diverges away from some of the story.

The basic premise is that in 1870s Arizona (think Wild West), aliens crash land and try to take over the primitive life as slaves. Intriguing premise, great opening pages from the view point of both the White Men and the Aliens as conquerors. Then the actual story begins: Zeke and Verity are protectors of a wagon train leading them through the treacherous wilderness to their new life in Silver City. When Zeke goes for reinforcements at the fort, an alien ship crash lands nearby. Once the aliens disembark they begin systematically destroying those that challenge them. Only partnering with the local Apache tribe and using human ingenuity can save them.

And let's be honest, who wouldn't love to see if human ingenuity would beat out superior technological weapons?

Beastly

Beastly, the movie, is coming out in early March and I'm interested in seeing how faithful it will be to the book by Alex Flinn. I read the book several months back. It's an urban, modernized version of "Beauty and the Beast" from a teenage Beast's point of view.

Rich, spoiled Kyle treats people like crap. He gets his comeuppance when a witch curses him and he turns into a frightful, hairy beast. No waxing, lasering or shaving makes a dent in his appearance. This is magic, after all. And the spell can only be broken if he redeems himself by finding someone to love him for who he is not what he looks like.

There's quite a bit of willing suspension of disbelief neccesary to enjoy the book. Obviously it can't be too realistic when it's a fairy tale. Alex Flinn does a good job making it as believable as possible though. So, how will the movie fare?

Hmm, well the very first thing I noticed upon seeing publicity posters for the movie is that the beast is not covered in hair. Instead he looks like a tattooed and artistically scarred specimen. Considering that we see people like this all the time in our society, I wonder how beastly the movie makers truly wanted to make him. Beastly but still hot underneath? Perhaps. I'm a little unsure how I will like the movie, but I'm giving it a go. Neil Patrick Harris is in it, and that might just be good enough for me.

I suggest reading the book first. Then you too can have the fun of comparing and contrasting the stories.