Book Review: Turtles All the Way Down

                                          Turtles All the Way Down Review

Turtles All the Way Down is about a high school student named Aza who suffers from some form of an anxiety disorder which keeps her stuck in her head most of the time worrying about all the different ways that she could catch C.diff which it's somewhat implied that this is what her father died of suddenly when she was younger. One day Aza ends up being convinced by her best friend Daisy that she should try to reconnect with her childhood friend Davis who's rich father had disappeared recently and the police are offering a hundred thousand dollar reward to anyone who has information on how to find him. Davis is happy to see Aza again even though he knows that she most likely is only talking to him again because of what happened to his father and Aza finds that she actually does like spending time with Davis even though she can't understand why he would like to spend time with someone who is as stuck in her own head as she is.

Aza ends up dating Davis for awhile and while it seems to work okay as long as they're just talking to each other she finds it hurt to enjoy holding his hand or kissing him even though part of her desires to do those things with him because all she can think about is how many germs are being spread through that action. In the second half of the novel Aza also ends up getting into a fight with her friend Daisy about how they can't really understand how the other sees the world but they end up making up and being a little more aware of how each other thinks about things. Things between Aza and Davis don't seem to work out because Aza can't really date someone in the normal way and she doesn't want Davis to date her and hope that someday she will get better.

Overall a I really enjoyed this book the characters really stood out and I was invested in them and the relationships that they formed with each other. I thought that the writing was good and really let us get to know what it's like to be stuck in Aza's head with her. Please tell me your thoughts on this book in the comment section below.

Top 10 Books That Have Been on My to Be Read List for the Longest Time

1. Grave Mercy: His Fair Assassin: This book has been on my to be read list since it first came out and while I do still want to read this book I also didn't remember that this book existed until I went back and looked at my old to be read lists.
2. Born Wicked: This was another book that I forgot about until I went back and looked at my list but once I saw the title I remembered what it was about and then I got really excited about reading this book someday, again.
3. A Touch of Power: I'm pretty sure I actually started reading this book but I stopped for some reason but since I don't remember disliking it and I remember the description being good I'm going to still put this on the list.
4. Dash and Lilly's Book of Dares: I have owned this book for years now and I really don't know why I haven't bothered reading it yet but now that I remember that I have this book hopefully I'll read it soon.
5. Will Grayson: Another book I own that I've had for awhile now that I don't understand why I haven't read especially considering that John Green is one of the authors for this book and I'm a big fan of his work.
6. Wither: While I do still want to read this book, I actually do get why I haven't read it yet because honestly I remember being only mildly interested in reading this book but I also quite loved the cover for the series.
7. If I Stay: This is another book that I already own that I haven't read but I was never too terribly interested in reading this book and since my only real interested in this book came from the fact that everyone else was talking about it, I think I'm going to skip it since it really doesn't sound like my kind of thing.
8. Entwined: Yet another book I already own that I feel like I should read but since I can't actually remember what it was about I don't see myself reading it anytime soon.
9. The Gathering: I've wanted to read this book since I finished reading The Darkest Powers series since this book is set in the same universe and since I got this book for Christmas hopefully I'll be able to start reading it soon.
10. Vampire Academy: This is another book that I hope I'll be able to start reading rather soon since I also already own this book.

Top 10 Books on My Winter To Be Read List

1. Glass: This is the second book in the Crank series which is written by Ellen Hopkins who is one of my favorite authors so I'm sure I'll be a fan of this book as well since I've enjoyed all the books that I read by her so far.
2. Heartless: Since I loved Marissa Meyer's previous series The Lunar Chronicles and I also like Alice in Wonderland retellings I figure that I'll probably be a fan of this book as well and since I already own this book it's pretty high on my to be read list.
3. Isla and the Happily Ever After: Since I own this book already and I did really enjoy Lola and the Boy Next Door I'm looking forward to reading this book but since I'm one of the few people who didn't like Anna and the French Kiss I'm also a little worried that I won't end up liking this book.
4. The Fill-in Boyfriend: This book is a YA novel that involves fake dating and since I love fake dating I think this book sounds like it would be a fun read.
5.The Raven King: So far I have loved every book in The Raven Cycle series and every book I read written by Maggie Stiefvater so far and I don't think that will be changing when I read this book so I'm really looking forward to reading it.
6. Turtle All the Way Down: This book is the newest book by John Green and since I liked the other books he has written I think there's a good chance I'll like this one too.
7. Why We Broke Up: This book seems like one that could be really good and interesting because it's dealing with the ending of a relationship rather then the beginning of one which isn't something that I have read that many stories about so far so I'm intrigued by the concept of the story.
8. Holding Up the Universe: I really want to read this book since it's by the same author of All the Bright Places which was one of my favorite books I read this year so anything written by this author is worth checking out in my book.
9. Literally: I think the concept of this book the main character figuring out that she's a fictional character is really cool one and even though the reviews I read haven't been great so far I still want to read it because it would at the very least be fun to compare it to the kdrama W Two Worlds which deals with the same concept.
10. Be More Chill: I want to read this book since I loved It's Kind of a Funny Story which was written by the same author and because I really enjoy listening to the cast recording of the musical as well.

Movie Review: Paper Towns

                                                        Paper Towns Review

Paper Towns is based off of a book by John Green of the same name and it's the story about a high school senior Quentin Jacobson(Nat Wolff) who has had a crush on his much more popular neighbor Margo Roth Spiegelman(Cara Delevingne) who he hasn't been close to in years. One night Margo decides that her and Quentin will spend the night pranking people who have wrong her and Quentin believes that this could be the start of something between them but the next day Margo disappears and it becomes clear that she has ran away. Quentin along with his best friends Ben(Austin Abrams) and Radar(Justice Smith) and Margo's best friend Lacey(Halston Sage) spend the next couple weeks looking for clues about where Margo could have gone. The group ends up going on a road trip in order to find Margo.

This film is one that is very similar to the book and since I wasn't a huge fan of this book it made my enjoyment of the film not be has a high as it could be. I really enjoyed all the characters other than Margo and I really liked the character dynamics between all of those characters so there were actually a lot of things I did like in the film but having it all be centered around Margo really did take away from my overall enjoyment of the film. I did like that it felt like the movie was more centered around Quentin's friendship with Ben and Radar than his crush on Margo so that was a change I enjoyed along with the timeline being a lot faster than it was in the book.

Overall I thought that this was a good adaption of a book that I wasn't huge fan of but I did think it was a pretty good movie. I thought that the acting was overall pretty good and the only technical thing I had a problem with is that there were quite a few times when the characters would be talking too quietly for me to hear. Please tell me your thoughts about this film or the book.

Top 10 Books on my Fall 2014 to be read list

1. Sinner: This book is the sort of fourth book of the Wolves of Mercy Falls series and it deals with wrapping up Cole and Isabel's story and since I love that series and both of these characters I'm very excited to read this book.
2. Crank: I love Ellen Hopkins books and this is her most well known one so I think that it would be for the best if I read it.
3. The Mark of Athena: I loved the first two books of the Heroes of Olympus series and I'm sure I'll love this one as well and I've been meaning to read it for awhile anyways.
4. Paper Towns: I've read three books I've read by John Green so far and I have no reason to believe that I wouldn't love this one as well.
5. Dime Store Magic: I love Kelly Armstrong's The Darkest Powers series and this book sounds interesting as well and I hope that I love it just as much.
6. Also Known As: I hear that this book is sort of similar to the Gallagher Girls series which I love and I will be finished with fairly soon so I think this will help fill the void.
7. Triangles: Another Ellen Hopkins novel and this one is related to the book Tilt which I loved.
8. Splintered: This book sounds like an interesting retelling of the Alice in Wonderland story and since I already own this book I think that this is a good book to read soon.
9. The Scorch Trails: I liked the first book of the Maze Runner series and I think that I'll like this one as well.
10. The Sound and the Fury: So on a blog that I visited someone said that a character whom I love life is like a fanfiction of The Sound and the Fury, my first thought was that's bond to be a depressing book and my second thought was I have no idea what that is so I have to look that up and I did. Anyways the reference sort of makes sense to me now and I really really want to read this book because it sounds super interesting as well as very challenging so this book is on this list but I also know that I won't actually read this book this fall.

Movie Review: The Fault in Our Stars

                                                  The Fault in Our Stars Review

The Fault in Our Stars is based off a book by John Green which I have read and loved, the story is about a teenage girl named Hazel Lancaster(Shailene Woodley) who as been living with a terminal diagnosis of cancer for years now and her parents began to worry that she is becoming depressed which Hazel thinks is perfectly normal considering she's dying, so her parents decide that she needs to go to a teen cancer support group. At the support group Hazel ends up meeting a cancer survive named Augustus Waters(Ansel Elgort) who looks for the metaphor in everything, doesn't believe in denying himself pleasure of looking at something beautiful such as Hazel who he waste no time in telling her he thinks that she's beautiful and has only one leg.

Most of the story of the film is Hazel and Augustus relationship which starts off as a flirty friendship but eventually becomes a sweet and cute romance as time goes on. There's other stories in the movie as well such as Isaac(Nat Wolf)  dealing with loosing both his girlfriend and his eyesight. There's Hazel and Augustus meeting the author of Hazel's favorite book which the two of bonded over earlier in the movie who turns out to be a real ass and then of course just dealing with cancer as well.

This movie is one that made me laugh and made me cry just like the book did and I don't think that there could have been a better adaptation of this book. I thought all of the actors did a great job at bring their characters to life and so did everyone else that worked on the movie with bring this book to life. I loved this movie and I'm so happy it turned out as good as it did. Please me your thoughts on this movie.

Top 10 Gateway Books

1. Vampire Knight: This series is the first ever manga series that I've ever read and since I'm now a huge fan of manga so I think of this series as a pretty big gateway series for me because while I only read like the first six or so volumes of the series it still had a big impact on my life since it's the series that introduced me to manga.
2. Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle: This is the first series that I read by Clamp and I have read a ton of series by Clamp now and I would saw that my love for this series surely had a role in my choosing to read pretty much every Clamp series I can get my hands on. This series also happens to be my favorite Clamp series despite me being confused and disappointed by it's ending although more confused than disappointed.
3. Harry Potter: This is pretty much the first fantasy series that I read so I would saw that this series had a big influence not just on my life in general like it does for pretty much everyone but also for my love for fantasy stories especially ones involving witches and wizards which I feel there aren't enough of those now a days.
4. Uglies: This is the first dystopian series that I've ever read and I have to say it's the best YA dystopian I read because while romance is part of the story it's not the main point and I feel like the dystopian society is always the main focus of the story. I feel like this series is part of the reason I'm so picky when it comes to dystopians because it was so good that I end up feeling let down by most other ones.
5. Alice in Wonderland: Reading this book made me interested in reading older children's books because the way in which they are written sounds a lot different in a charming way than any of the books that are written more recently. I like that these kind of books are easy to understand but still have formality and wittiness to it that children's books don't now a days but still have a childlike wonder to them that I like a lot.
6. Fruits Basket: This series is my favorite series of all time and I think you should read it if haven't already. This series is one I consider a gateway one because it was a very popular manga series that I only read because so many other people read it so it must be good which has led to me trying out books that are popular even when they don't sound good to me with various results such as I loved The Fault in Our Stars and I kind of hate Anna and the French Kiss and I really need to write about that someday.
7. The Fault in Our Stars: This is the book that made me become a fan of John Green and so far I have read three of his books and I have loved them all.
8. Impulse: This is the book that made me become a fan of Ellen Hopkins books because while I had been interested in her books for years before this not having read them I couldn't be a fan of her's until after reading one of her books and this was my first and still my favorite book of her's. I have now read and loved 5 of her books.
9. A Series of Unfortunate Events: This series is the one that made me realize two things I love in a story are smart characters and dark humor and if you can mix the two together I'll love it even more. While this isn't exactly a genre it is something that helps me to know what to look for while reading plot descriptions and reviews for books I'm considering reading.
10. Rosario +Vampire: This series is the first shonen manga I ever read and while I don't read a whole lot of that I do read some and I thought this series was really good but only the manga the anime was badly written fan service while the manga had plot, characters and relationships all of which I was really invested in.

Top 10 Contemporary Books

1. The Perks of Being a Wallflower: This is my favorite book of all time so it's no surprise that it tops this list as well. I love that this is book where we just follow the main character Charlie through his freshmen year of high school because the plot is simple but this allows for a bunch of great character stories through out the book. I also just really love the way that Charlie thinks because it's so lovely and not like any other character that I've ever read.
2. Impulse: I really Ellen Hopkins books in general and this is my favorite book of her's that I have read so far. I love that this story starts with our three main characters recovering from attempting suicide and I love how we slowly learn what led them to the point of wanting to kill themselves. I really love that the three characters each have distinct voices and I really love the poetry form the story is told through.
3. Looking For Alaska: I really love how this story starts off as a going off to boarding school and just general teenage issues but half way through the book the story becomes darker and deeper. I also just really love the characters who had so much life to them and I love the way that the book was written as well.
4. Perfect: This book is a companion novel to Impulse and I like that it gave more depth to one of the characters stories in that book and also introduced us to the stories of 4 new characters. I love that this book dealt with the idea of trying to achieve perfection and how since perfection is impossible it's a very damaging thing to do and some of the characters learned this and other didn't.
5. Heist Society: I really love this fun light story about teenage con-artist that has lots of travel, heists, great characters and a nice dose of romance that at no point overtakes the plot which is a nice change compared to most YA novels.
6. Gallagher Girls: This is a nice fun story about girls spy school that has plenty of great friendship moments and mixes teenage girl and spy pretty much perfectly. As the series goes on the story gets more complicated and darker which I'm really enjoying. There's also a bit of romance that I enjoy quite a bit as well.
7. Tricks: This is a story about five teens who somehow end up having to sell themselves for various reasons and I really enjoyed how different each of their stories were and how they were told as well. I feel like this is a book that sounds a bit strange to say that I loved it but I thought it had a really good story to it although it was by no means a happy one.
8. The Fault in Our Stars: This is a book that is known for it's sweet romance and it's sad ending and while I agree that both those things are great parts of the book I also think that it's wicked sense of humor is also one of the major things that makes me love the book.
9. Tilt: While I always love the beautiful poetic writing of Ellen Hopkins I admit that the reason this book makes the list is only because of Shane's story(I didn't care much for Hardly's and Mikayla's stories). His story went in a way I never expected it to and I really loved him having a crisis of faith and just basically slowly falling apart wanting someone to notice and not wanting to bother anyone with his problems at the same time, it was a complicated story and one that I completely adored.
10. It's Kind of a Funny Story: This is the story about how the pressures of achieving became too much for a boy named Craig and how when he couldn't meet the especially high standards that he set for himself he became depressed to the point of being suicidal so he checked himself into the mental health wing of the hospital and slowly began the process of recovery.

Top 10 Books that Made Me Cry

1. Game of Thrones(A Song of Ice and Fire): The last part of the book with Ned Stark's demise is pretty heartbreaking even if you weren't a fan of his character because the end of him was heartbreaking for his whole family who chances are you love at least one of them so seeing their mourning will end up making you cry at some point and his end is also the beginning of the war which I think everyone could tell wouldn't end well. There's also Daenery's POV chapters that were pretty heartbreaking as well as exciting which also ended up making me cry. Although what got me the most was Sansa's last POV chapter where she had just discovered that pretty much every belief that she ever had is wrong and she has to live in a truly awful situation and I just sobbed through the entire chapter.
2. The Book Thief: This book had a very heartbreaking ending that the narrator of the book Death had been warning us about through out the whole book but that didn't make the events less heartbreaking and it didn't stop the tears following down my cheeks which just proves that when something is written well being spoiled won't ruin the emotional pay out for you.
3. The Fault in Our Stars: This book is one that had made me laugh with it's dark sense of humor, made me fall in love with it's characters as well as Hazel and Augustus's relationship and then the book ended up breaking my heart and making me cry with it's ending. This book made me feel a ton of emotions and I'm glad it did and I loved how beautifully written it was and I was glad that I had the privilege to get my heart broken by this book.
4. Thirteen Reasons Why: This book dealt with a very sad subject matter and it's ending while clear from the start still ended up making me cry. I love how this book made you think that Hannah could have been saved but since the tapes came out after her death the people that might've listen didn't hear until it was too late.
5. Tokyo Babylon Vol. 7: This volume is just depressing from start finish it's something that in the back of your mind you know the story had to end this way and this was the only way this story could have ended but you wish it would've ended anyway than this one. It's a brilliantly written completely heartbreaking end to this series that leaves a big impression and this ending is enough for me to recommend this series to anyone because this is how you end a story sadly without making the readers feel like it was a bad ending for the series because it was a great ending it was just a depressing one.
6. The Lovely Bones: This book had a dark subject matter dealing with murder, death and mourning and it was a really sad read and it's sadness ended up sticking with me a lot longer than it's characters did and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.
7. Impulse: This book dealt with three teenagers after attempting suicide so it's not surprise that this story is a rather sad one but it was nice that for two of them things seemed to be moving in the right direction that things will get better in the future. But it was so terrible sad to see that for the last one that nothing was going to change that all his problems will still be there once he gets back home and they will be swept under the rug like they always had been and that's what made me cried.
8. Looking for Alaska: The second part of this book that dealt with the mourning process in a way that felt painful and real and showed that sometimes your not going to get the answers that you desire and that the only form of closure you can get is to move on from it and accept that it's in the past now.
9. Fruits Basket: This is my favorite series of all time and it has made me cry many times I know that I've cried during volumes 2, 4, 6, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15,16, 22 and 23 for sure and probably a few others as well. I love this series because of it's great characters that you end up loving so much and I think my love for the characters is why I have cried so many times during this series.
10. Linger(Wolves of Mercy Falls): This book is a bit different than the other ones on the list because it's not some big tragedy that effects the whole story or even something that most fans thing of for longer than the second their reading it but there are so many little moments that make me feel for the characters that made me cry a bit although a lot less than the other books. It was just things like Sam remembering the good things about his parents and how part of him still misses them or how he remembers how his parents tried to kill him when he was little, and then there's the stuff with how Cole wants to do anything to get out of his own head because he can't stand himself anymore because being the bad boy is anything but good but he doesn't know how to do anything other than self destruct. There's the whole thing with Isabel wanting to self destruct as well and dealing with the guilt about her brother's death. I just love this book and I wish people would ignore it's deeper character moments and write it off as a fluffy romance because it's so much more than that.

Book Review: An Abundance of Katherines

                                              An Abundance of Katherines Review

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green is about a recent high school graduate named Colin Singleton who has dated and been dumped by 19 girls with the first name of Katherine all spelt exactly the same way and all going by their full names. After being dumped by Katherine-19 Colin is very upset and can't think of anything but winning her back some how even though it's pretty clear that she's just not interested in being Colin's girlfriend anymore. Colin is also a former child prodigy and is very distressed by the fact that he may in fact grow up to be someone average rather than the genius him and his parents always hoped that he would be. Colin decides that the way to get Katherine-19 back and prove to himself that he's a genius is to come up with a math formula that can predict who and when will end any relationship between any two people.

Colin ends up being convinced by his best and only friend Hassan to go on a road trip with him in order to get his mind off of Katherine-19 and to have some fun but soon after their trip begins they end up staying in Gutshot, Tennessee where after visiting the grave of Archduke Franz Ferdinand they end up meeting a girl named Lindsey who's mother ends up offering Colin and Hassan a job and a place to stay for the summer.

Colin and Hassan end up interviewing the residents of Gutshot about why they love their town as their job and they end up spending quite a bit of time with Lindsey. Lindsey is a girl who is now fairly popular but was once very unpopular with a weird sense of style but she changed that in high school and is now dating the quarterback who turned out to be a jerk but she ends up realizing that since she's pretty fake now a days their relationship didn't mean as much as it should've.

This book had a really fun writing style like all of the John Green books I have read and I really enjoyed the footnotes in the book they gave a lot of interesting information without stopping the flow of the story to fact drop. I really enjoyed the characters Colin was clearly a difficult person to be around but I still enjoyed him because he had obvious insecurities and was really very smart, I liked Hassan because he was just a very likable guy and I liked Lindsey quite a bit as well even though I felt a bit less connected with her. I overall love this book please tell me what you thought about this book as well.

Top 10 Books of 2013

1. Looking for Alaska: This book I loved because it was a great coming of age story with the main character Pudge going to boarding school and for the first time being part of a close friend group which he had quite a few good times with but it's also a story that becomes much darker and deeper in it's second half. There's also the character Alaska who is pretty complicated, interesting and frustrating she has a lot of problems but she doesn't think anyone else is allowed to be upset because their problems are trivial compared to hers according to her but she can also be quite fun and she seems pretty smart. Then there's the second half of the book that deals with loss and how in the end you can't fully know a person or what happened in their last moments and that sometimes in life not all your questions can be answered and you just have to on with your life. This book was both funny and sad, was well written and had great characters.
2. The Fault in Our Stars: This book was much better than I thought it would be because I thought it was going to just be depressing all the way through but it wasn't. This book had a dark sense of humor which is my favorite kind and it really did suit the characters teenagers with cancer would totally make those kind of jokes. I also loved the relationship between Hazel and Augustus they were just such wonderful characters and they fit together just perfectly in the end. The story did take a depressing turn in the end which I was okay with even though I sobbed for quite a while.
3. Tilt: This is an Ellen Hopkins book which means I loved the way it was written in beautiful but easy to understand poetry. I wasn't a huge fan of Hardly or Mikayla because they both seemed to make obvious horrible life choices repeatedly but I did feel for them and their stories were interesting. Shane story on the other hand was one that I just loved, I loved his relationship with Alex which I never expected to be a sweet romantic one, I loved his relationship with his mother who he both feels like he needs her but also that he can't go to her because she already has too much to deal with, and I love that his storyline came to be about how he couldn't get past how pointless death is and he actually has a crisis of faith. I really love this book mainly for Shane's storyline that I'm probably not explaining it's brilliance very well since I haven't read it in months.
4. It's Kind of a Funny Story: This book is one about a high school boy who got himself into when of the best schools around and just feels like he isn't smart enough to be there and he is just ends being overwhelmed by all the work which leads him to becoming depressed. One night he decides to kill himself but instead checks himself into the psych ward in the hospital and starts his recovery process. I just really loved the book I really cared for and understood the main character and I always enjoy anything dealing with mental health.
5. Cinder: This is wonderful retelling of Cinderella in a futuristic China which has terrific world building and a great plot that makes you want to know more about everything that happens in this world. The characters are also great especially Cinder and Prince Kai who also develop a friendship hopeful romance later on in the series, through out the book that is a lot more realistic than I would expect out of a book based on Cinderella. This is a terrific book and there's not a single reason I can think of to not read this book.
6. Forever: I loved the last book of The Wolves of Mercy Falls series although not as much as I loved Linger but I'm oddly obsessed with that book so that's not really a surprise. I felt like it was a good conclusion to Sam and Grace's story with Grace making peace with her parents and Sam learning and accepting a lot about Beck, also there together at last which is what they have been trying to have since the beginning. I think that Cole and Isabel's storylines were less resolved but they both seem to be going in a positive direction with Cole wanting to actually survive and caring for other people and Isabel accepting her brother's death and confronting her feelings about most things a bit better. The relationship between Cole and Isabel is still complicated and undefined but there definitely closer now. I loved this book and the series as a whole especially Linger, but what I love most is the characters.
7. Only the Good Spy Young: This was the most exciting book in the series so far with lots of logical twist and turns I never saw coming. I also continue to love the characters and their relationships with each other.
8. Perfect Scoundrels: I loved this book because there was a lot of background information on Hale that was given that I had always been interested in. I also really loved Kat and Hale's relationship with them being from different worlds being the conflict in their relationship which was much more interesting to read about than some random love triangle that I half expected to see in this book but luckily that never happened.
9. Hide and Seek: This book was one that was exciting and full of plot twists that I've come to expect and enjoy through out this series.
10. The Magician's Nephew: This story about the beginning of Narnia was sweet and very fun and interesting read for me.

Top 4 New to Me Authors 2013

1. John Green: This year I read The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska and I found both books to be great reads. Both books were able to be both heartbreaking and hilarious and were filled with memorable characters. I loved how the humor throughout The Fault in Our Stars was fairly morbid and I like that this book surprised me because it had humor in it and romance rather than just the sadness I was expecting. I loved Looking for Alaska probably even more than I loved The Fault in Our Stars, it was a coming of age story that was very entertaining and then it became a story about accepting death and how there's always going to be some questions that can't be answered and you have to accept that. Anyways both books were well written and I will read more of his books in the future.
2. Marissa Meyer: I read her book Cinder this year and that book had a very unique retelling of Cinderella and had characters and a story that were far more developed than anything that I would have expected out of a story that was based off of this fairytale. The world building in this book is also very brilliant and the whole species of lunars are very interesting and detailed even though not much is known about them.
3. Ned Vizzini: I read his book It's Kind of a Funny Story which was a book about a high school boy who becomes overwhelmed and depressed by his highly competitive new school when he feels his grades aren't good enough and it also shows the beginning of his recovery. I loved this book it was an interesting story and despite it's subject matter it was actually rather humorous at points. I also learned this year that Ned Vizzini co-wrote the Teen Wolf episodes Venomous and Restraint which I enjoyed both of those episodes as well even though neither are my favorite of even season two both were good and I found it cool that he wrote a few episodes for one of my favorite tv shows. I plan to read more of his books in the future.
4. C.S. Lewis: I started to read The Chronicles of Narnia series this year and I really do enjoy the books and how they were written especially since I just love the way older children's books are written.

Top 10 Books I want for Christmas 2013

1. Scarlet: I loved the first book in The Lunar Chronicles series and I can't wait to read the next book because I would love to continue the story and I hear this book his a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood and since they did such a great job with the first book I can't wait to see what they did with this fairytale.
2. Out of Sight, Out of Mind: I've loved the first four books in the Gallagher Girls series and I'm sure I'll love this one as well and I hear that this book is one of the best in the series so I'm looking forward to reading it as soon as I can.
3. The Raven Boys: This book sounds pretty interesting and since I loved Maggie Stiefvater's Wolves of Mercy Falls series I would love to start another series by her.
4. Demonglass: I loved the first book of the Hex Hall series and with all the twists that were revealed towards the end of the first book the second book is bound to be even better.
5. Triangles: I love Ellen Hopkins books and I believe that this book is also a companion to Tilt which was one of my favorite Ellen Hopkins books.
6. Crank: As I mentioned above I love Ellen Hopkins books and this is the one that she's most famous for but it is also one of the few books of hers I haven't read yet.
7. Cross My Heart, Hope to Die: I've loved the first four books of The Lying Games series and I would really love to read more of it since I always go through these books pretty quickly.
8. Splintered: This book sounds like an interesting retelling of Alice in Wonderland which is one of my favorite books and I always seem to like retellings of it.
9. An Abundance of Katherines: I've read two John Green books this year which I loved so I think it would be good for me to read a third.
10. Also Known As: I've read good reviews about this book and it sounds like it might be kind of similar to the Gallagher Girls series.

Top 6 Books that Should be Required Reading

1. Fruits Basket: This series is one that I'm sadly sure will never be taught at schools but I really think it should. Fruits Basket is really just bout broken people who end up helping each other fix themselves while learning to also love each other but more importantly accept themselves. This series is one that sounds shallow but is actually incredible deep with having almost every character having a backstory reveal and the fact that about half of the major characters personalities are more or less defense mechanism that they developed at a young age to hide how broken they are. I love that while most of the characters have a sad past and a lot are trapped in a life where they have few choices and most of them think very poorly of themselves, I love that the series is about the characters growing and learning to like themselves and learning how to form meaningful connections with people. I just really love this series and I feel that reading the series makes your life better, I know that sounds a bit dramatic but I feel like it's true. I also feel like this series is well written and could lead to a lot of class discussions and I have wrote an essay on this series before so I think that there's a lot to be learned from this series.
2. Perks of Being a Wallflower: This is another book that means a lot to me and I feel like this would be a good book to be taught in school because I feel like a lot of people could relate to Charlie's struggles to find himself in high school. I also think that reading this book for class would be a good idea because Charlie is such a kindhearted person that I think he'd be someone that people could easily root and be invested in. I feel like a lot could be written about this book because it deals with a lot of issues and that also makes for good discussions as well.
3. Perfect: I think that Perfect would be a good book for students to read because in high school a lot of people are motivated by expectations whether they'd be their own or other people's expectations they feel they have to live up to some ideal and often times people standards are to high to be met which leads to distress. The book Perfect is about four teens who deal with the concept of perfection with what it means to them and how they feel the need to live up to being perfect and the desperate measures they go to trying to achieve the impossible. I think this book would be one that students could relate to which would make them more interested in the book considering that almost all required books are about adults from long ago it's no surprise that students aren't interested or understanding the stories fully. I think this book could lead to some much needed discussions and there's a lot of issues to be talked about.
4. Looking for Alaska: This book is a coming of age story that deals with death and I feel that it's one that is very well written and could be a book that students would enjoy reading and on some levels could relate to. But on other levels I feel that the students could learn much from this book and much could be discussed and written about it as well.
5. Thirteen Reasons Why: This book deals with suicide and it shows that it can be caused by simple everyday actions that seem harmless at the time and I think that this book being taught in schools would lead people to be more thoughtful about how their actions could affect other people.
6. Linger:  This may seem like a weird book to put on this list but this book really spoke to me and if you've read my Top 10 Book moments list you know how much I loved it. I really loved how this book dealt with Sam's uncertainty that his cure was real and how he didn't really know how he was suppose to feel now that his curse was lifted and I love that he's still broken from all went through in the past and is still working through it, I just kind of love Sam's storyline in this book because I felt like it was dealing with the whole what happens after happily ever after. I also really loved Cole's mission to get away from himself and I love that he hates himself for being basically what one thinks of as a bad boy because those people are actually awful people and he knows this but doesn't seem to know how to be anyone else so he'll settle for getting out of his own head. I also really loved Isabel's whole thing with feeling guilty about her brother's death and how she wants to start a self destructive relationship with Cole. I think this book has a lot going on in it and I feel like there's much to discuss and write about.

Top 8 Books I read so far this year

1. Looking for Alaska: It was close call between this one and The Fault in Our Stars because both of the books were written with so many memorable lines and also both made me experience a lot of emotions. But I choose Looking for Alaska as my favorite book of the year so far because I just connected to it more. I really loved reading the story and I felt a pretty good connection to Pudge especially with how before the story started he never done much of anything but stay at home and read but he's also in search of more of something more exciting in live in what he refers to as the great perhaps. I also really loved how this book had it's characters value intelligence and I like the thing about the school sports team being so awful it's funny. I liked all of Pudge's new friends and how they were all different and how they all had their own stories to tell. I love how in the end it seems to me that we were suppose to be somewhat conflicted about our feelings for Alaska and I loved that she was a mystery that couldn't quite be solved in the end and that it doesn't really matter all that much that she can't be solved as long as she will be remembered. I also loved how the book was divided into a Before and After section and how the tone and theme of the story is different in the section but both sections are equally enjoyable.
2. The Fault in Our Stars: The Fault in Our Stars was a book that I heard a lot about before I read it and therefore I was a bit nervous it wouldn't live up to the hype so I was extremely happy when I discovered how much I loved this book. This surprised me with it's great dark sense of humor where Hazel, Augustus and Issac would frequently joke about their cancer or really just death in general. I love that kind of dark sense of humor and it seemed to fit the characters because they are teenagers even though they have cancer which was nice to see in my opinion. I really loved the relationship between Hazel and Augustus, I loved seeing it developed from friendship to love and I really just thought the two of them were extremely cute together and I loved that they both gave each other books in order to get more insight into what the other likes. I loved that this book broke my heart and made me cry as much as it did because for some reason I love it when a book can really make me cry as much The Fault in Our Stars did.
3. Tilt: This is a book that I thought about putting higher on the list until I realized that even the whole thing is written in the beautiful poetry of all Ellen Hopkins books I read I only actually loved Shane's storyline and was just interested and sympathetic to Mikayla and Harley. I loved this book because of Shane's storyline I loved that though his character was gay that his whole storyline didn't revolve around that although I did really love his relationship with Alex because they were really sweet and I loved how they both went into the relationship looking for something causal but ended up falling in love. I really loved how Shane did love his sister Shelby but didn't think that she really had much of a life but despite that her death still hit him really hard. I loved Shane trying to come to terms with death and I loved seeing him have a crises of faith partially because I loved that he still believed in god at the beginning of the book. I loved how Shane desperately needed his mom but at the same time didn't want her to worry about him at all because he knew that she was going through a hard time as well. I was all that invested in Mikayla and Harley's storylines but there were still moments I enjoyed them a whole lot but I didn't love them like I loved Shane.
4. Only the Good Spy Young: The fourth book of Gallagher Girls series is my favorite in the series so far. I loved that there was a big plot twist right at the start of this book and I loved the way the characters reacted to the plot twist because my thoughts were pretty similar to theirs and I just loved the way all the twists played out in this book. I really loved all the action in this book and I loved how the stakes were so much higher in this book the early ones. I also continue to love all the characters and their relationships.
5. Perfect Scoundrels: The third book of the Heist Society series may just be my favorite. I loved how this book dealt with Kat and Hale's relationship with having the whole thing about how Hale is part of Kat's world but Kat doesn't have a place in Hale's world and she isn't sure that she can ever have a place in his world. I also loved that Kat saw that Hale coming to her world was somewhat similar to how at the beginning of the first book Kat ran away to boarding school and how she wonders if Hale is doing the same thing with her and it's just a matter of time until Hale goes back to his own world. I just loved that Kat and Hale's relationship dealt with all kind of really problems instead of some contrived love triangle like most YA books seem to have because it made more sense for their characters and in the end it said a lot about both characters. I loved learning more about Hale and the world which he came from in this book as well. I also loved the con artist parts of the story as well and I loved seeing all the characters that I fell in love with from the first two books again.
6. Magic Knight Rayearth II: I really love how the second half of this series is dealing with how the end of the first half of the series is effecting the girls. I loved that when the girls returned to Cefiro and see that the world is falling apart they decided they need to do everything in their power to save it.  I love that almost all the characters from the first half of the series are back and I love that there are many new characters from other worlds entering the series. I also love that it seems that this series is pointing out Cefiro's flaw of having one person support an entire world and not value anyone over anyone else. I continue to love the girls and their lovely friendship with each other and I continue to love artwork that is some of the most beautiful that I have ever seen.
7. Hide and Seek: The fourth book of The Lying Games series is very exciting in my opinion and I continue to love the mystery and I love all the twists and turns the series makes. I also adore the relationship between Emma and Ethan as well.
8. Gate-7: I've just start this series by Clamp and so far I'm really liking it. The artwork is beautiful and the characters seem interesting and it seems like there's going to be a lot of interesting mythology so right now I'm at a bit of a loss when it comes to explaining the series but I do know I really like it so far.

Book Review: Looking for Alaska

                                                    Looking for Alaska Review

Looking for Alaska by John Green(the author of The Fault in Our Stars another book which I love) is about a high school boy named Miles 'Pudge' Halter who has decided to go to Culver Creek boarding school in search of the "Great Perhaps". Pudge is a boy that never really had any real friends and he spends most of his time reading biographies and memorizing last words. While at Culver Creek he starts to make actual friends with the Colonel, Alaska and Takumi and they introduce him to a new way of life which involved drinking, smoking and pulling pranks although Pudge notes at one point early on that although his parents would say he fell in with the wrong group of kids they are all very smart which is something I find interesting and enjoyable about the group. Pudge also has major crush on Alaska throughout the book, Alaska is a girl that at one moment she's very friendly, bubbly and caring but the next time you see her she could have withdrawn into herself and considering that everyone else's problems no matter what they are to not be real problem. The first half of the book I would say is mostly coming of age story for Pudge with him meeting new people, doing new things and overall just discovering a new way of life.

The second of the book deals with Pudge and the Colonel trying to figure out the mystery of Alaska Young but because of how little of herself that Alaska is willing to relieve they find themselves at somewhat of a loss to explain why Alaska did the things she did and overall they just couldn't fully know her or understand the way she thought of things. The second book also deals a great deal with death and what is it that happens to a person after they die.

Overall I loved this book it has great characters, a pretty good plot line that just feels very real which is something I can consider a good thing. There were a lot of great quotes through out this book, I loved so many quotes in this book that I'm thinking of making a list of all the quotes I loved from this book. Overall I loved this book in fact I loved even more than The Fault in Our Stars the other John Green book that I read and loved.

Top 10 Books I want to Read this summer

1. Looking for Alaska: I'm actually reading this book right now and I absolutely love it there's so many good quotes and I love the characters as well. This is only my second John Green book but I think this one may be my favorite but I'm not quite sure yet since I haven't finished it yet.
2. Cinder: This book sounds like a book that I would love and so many people recommend it and love it so it's been high on my to be read list for a long time so I want to actually read it this summer.
3. The Reckoning: I loved the first two books of The Darkest Powers series so I'm sure I'll love the exciting ending of the series and since I just bought the book that means I'm able to read it soon.
4. It's Kind of a Funny Story: I've actually read the first couple of pages of this book months ago and I loved it but I was reading a couple other books at the time so I haven't got back to reading it yet. I also watched the movie years ago and I loved it and since the book is usually better the movie that means I'll love the book even more.
5. The Mark of Athena: I loved the first two books in the Heroes of Olympus series and I see no reason why I wouldn't love this book as well so I'm looking forward to reading this book.
6. Manic Pixie Dreamgirl: I've just bought this book after reading what it was about in the book store it sounded exactly like the kind of book I would love so I'm really excited to read this one. I haven't heard anyone else mention anything about this book so I'll be going into it pretty much blind so that's something I find really cool as well.
7. Forever: I loved the first two books of the Wolves of Mercy Falls series and I love all of the many characters so I'm excited and a little nervous about seeing how their stories are going to end. I own this book already which is good because that means I can start it at anytime I want to. I really hope that the last book is as good as Linger which is my favorite book in the series so far which I hear isn't exactly a popular opinion but I really enjoyed the way the characters were handled in it so I hope that continues in the last book.
8. If I Stay: I hear great things about this book and it's been on my to be read list for awhile now and I hear it's sad and sometimes I really enjoy crying about books or fiction in general. I own this book already but I'm not exactly excited about reading it but I have a feeling that I'll end up enjoying it.
9. Demonglass: I loved Hex Hall so much and the end had a good number of twists to it so I'm really looking forward to the next book of the series. The only reason this book is so far down on the list is because I don't actually own the book yet.
10. Catching Fire: I feel that I need to read the book before I see the movie and since Jena Malone is in the movie I'm actually looking forward to movie since she's one of my favorite actresses but I'm not exactly look forward to the book because while I liked the Hunger Games I didn't love it and I don't feel the need to go back to that world and spend more time with the characters.

Book Review: The Fault in Our Stars

                                                   The Fault in Our Stars Review

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, is about a girl named Hazel who has stage 4 thyroid cancer which cause her lungs to suck at being lungs and she has been living the cancer for three years now. Hazel is what she calls a professional sick person and therefore she doesn't go to regular school and about the only time she gets out of the house is to go to support group meetings for children living with cancer. At one of the support group meetings she meets a guy named Augustus Waters who's a survivor of osteosarcoma although he did loose one leg to disease he's considered cured of the disease by the time Hazel meets him. Augustus is this guy who looks for the metaphor in almost everything  this is shown with the way he likes to metaphorical smoke cigarettes and he also has a fondness for grand gestures.

Hazel and Augustus become good friends over time and it's clear from very early on that the two are falling in  love with each other but Hazel doesn't wish to get close to anyone because she see herself as a grenade just waiting to go off with her death causing everyone she's close to pain once she's gone. Augustus doesn't share Hazel viewpoint on this matter and instead feels that the fact someone could die soon just means they should not waste their time denying what they feel. One of the things that Hazel and Augustus bond over is Hazel's favorite book An Imperial Affliction which was about a teenage girl with cancer and it ends mid-sentence which makes them both curious about what happens to the main characters loved ones after the book ends. Due their curiosity and that Peter Van Houten's the author of An Imperial Affliction, promise to reveal what happens after the end of the book if they came to Amsterdam to see him in person, Augustus uses his wish from the Genies for Hazel and Augustus to go to Amsterdam. Peter Van Houten ends up being a disappointment and doesn't give them the answers they wanted but they still ended up having a good time on their trip and this is actually when they end up getting together.

Towards the end of the book Augustus's cancer comes back worse than ever and well it's pretty obvious what ends up happening which ended up making me cry a whole bunch. The book was overall great it had this dark sense of humor and was very heartfelt at the same time. I loved the characters of Hazel and Augustus and the brief relationship they shared. Please tell me your thoughts on this book.