Twisted Fairy Tales, The Martian Chronicles, Wither

I'm getting better about reading more often. I think it's a combination of being exhausted after waitressing and wanting nothing more than reading for two hours in the peaceful quiet of my own bed and also the beautiful weather outside making me want to soak up some rays while devouring a book. 

I finished Twisted Fairy Tales by Maura McHugh a few days ago in the sun in my backyard. I love creepy fairy tales (also it's YA, quelle surprise) which is why I loved this book. Despite the stories being well known, I think many of the stories were original. The illustrations were also pretty awesome. Many of the stories are classics such as Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty, but there are lesser known fairy tales, too, which was good, too.
 The Snow White story was exactly like that K-Stew movie that came out a year or so ago, Snow White and the Huntsman, which seemed weird to me.

The only thing that drove me crazy was the editing - I found several typos throughout (but I'm a freak about it).  If that sort of thing doesn't bother you, this is a great book for a beach read.The stories are short, yet creepy enough that you'll find yourself thinking about certain grisly scenes later on.

 I also just finished The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. I know it's a classic, but somehow I just got around to reading it. Previously, my favorite Bradbury book was The Illustrated Man.
I love anything Bradbury writes, so naturally I was sucked right into The Martian Chronicles.  This book is for anyone who loves sci-fi. And Bradbury's choice of details always astounds me. I love the portrayal of the martians as a peaceful people invaded by humans. Every story leaves me wanting more, which I think is the most important thing about a short story.








I'm currently reading Wither by Laura DeStefano, which is a YA fluff read for me. I surprisingly haven't even noticed a typo yet. The story is dystopian YA lit (obviously). The plot revolves around Rhine, a sixteen year old girl, who lives in a futuristic America  where men don't live past the age of twenty-five and women only live until the age of twenty due to a viral infection. Because of the sharp decline in the population and because of the massive amounts of doctors who are researching for an antidote to this virus, young, pretty girls are swiped off the streets and sold into wifery by wealthy families. Rhine is one of these girls. Pulled off the street with thirty other girls and chosen with just two others, she is sold to a wealthy family and her new husband (and two sister wives) have to deal with being treated as property.

It's a pretty fascinating premise and I'm loving it. The only problem is that there are three of these books, so now that I'm sucked in, I have two more books to read afterwards. SIGH. This is an issue because I have at least six books waiting at home to be read next.

A Handmaid's Tale: Great Until the End

Spoiler Alert will be on throughout this post, just so you know.  Although everyone has already read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood because it came out in 1998 so it hardly matters.

In any case, I was very excited when I read the description for THT. I thought, Great! More teen dystopian lit for 2012! Then I found out it was written in 1998. And then I realized that the story was great until the end which is a complete crap ending.

All in all, I thought it was much like 1984. Which is a book that I adore and respect, obviously as I love dystopian stories. However, this had the same plot as 1984. The initial setup to show how the world works nowadays, the dissenters dreaming of ways to rebel, and the ways that they do rebel. I'm sorry, but after the buildup of this book, after all the ways women are ignored, shunned, and forced into horrible actions, the ending was too abrupt.

It left the reader wondering if she was saved by an underground railroad-esque operation or if she was killed by the government. All in all, I was thoroughly unimpressed. I put in all that time reading up to the annoying, unresolved ending!

Thanks, Margaret Atwood. Thanks a lot.

A few quick things...

So, this is hardly a book review entry but I'm writing it anyways because I feel so dang guilty for not writing in simply ages.
That being said, October is a hell of a busy month. I mean, really, it's like every friend's birthday, Halloween, AND Pumpkin Fest (if you're not from NH, then disregard this bit or just google it if you want to have some fun). It's just a lot of things in 4 weeks. I've been getting loads more hours at the library and started babysitting some real cool kiddos, so I've been preoccupied!

In book news, however, I'm still reading The Handmaid's Tale which = dystopian lit-extremist-feminist-awesomeness that I'm nearly finished with. Also I'm still reading Abarat: Absolute Midnight which is taking ages because it's so dark and as I said before insane busy schedule etc.

Now in other news, this is my new favorite blog because, well, I love Natalie Dee. If you don't know who Natalie Dee is, you should probably just get real comfy at your computer with some snacks because you'll be reading her comics (and probably her husband's too) for hours. End of story.

Also, let's talk Halloween excitement. One of my FAVORITE children's books is Coraline by Neil Gaiman and here is a link to not only Neil Gaiman reading Coraline, but also Lemony Snicket does a chapter and there are more to come, too. Sweet, right?

In other news, I'm obsessed with pumpkins. Bookish pumpkins, mainly. Pumpkins that have characters from all our fave books. Look at them, they are actually incredible.

The best news of this month however is that I'm going to be Daenerys from Game of Thrones for Halloween. So that will be AWESOME. (To tell the truth it was a bit up in the air for a while when I wanted to be Elle from Kill Bill since I finally just saw those movies and am desperately in love now. Obviously).

Sorry again for the laziness, but I feel the links have really made up for it. Disagree? Leave a comment and complain, then.