2015 A Year in Books

Hey, guys! As 2015 draws to a close, I thought I'd give you guys my top ten favorite books of the year (not that came out, but that I read).  Here's the list!

(Last Year's you can find here)

Challenger Deep

The Long Walk

Boo

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

Stand Off (Winger #2)

Five Stages of Andrew Brawley

The Young Elites

Red Queen

The Martian

Angelfall

Happy Reading!

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Movie Adaptation: Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

Hey, guys!  A few weeks ago, I read the book, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn.  I really enjoyed it, as you can see by my review.  It was just a fun read.
After reading it, I saw that they had made a movie adaptation of this book.  I watched the trailer, of course, and was worried.  I could tell that they got a lot of things wrong and postponed watching it for a bunch of weeks.  A few days ago, I caved and loaned the movie from the library.
My earlier suspicions were confirmed, it strayed quite a bit from the book.

Overall movie: 4/5 stars

Movie compared to the book: 2.5/5 stars

The main issue that I had with this movie was its diversions from the book.  They added an entire storyline about a drunk girl, Caroline, who was an almost insignificant character in Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist. 
Also, the main point of the movie was for the characters to find the band Where's Fluffy?, while finding the band only took place in the first half of the book.  It was as if the film creators messed up and had to end the movie at the halfway point.
All of my favorite scenes were not included, in order to make space for Drunk Caroline roaming around New York.  Scenes that were just amazing, beautiful, and/or hilarious were missing from the movie.  It was missing the umph that made the book so good.
There were certain sections of the book with really deep undertones and amazing quotations that also weren't included.  I understand that these may not have been able to fit into a film adaptation, but at the very least, I think they should have included a brief acknowledgement to the title.  It would be easy to walk out of the movie without understanding what an "infinite playlist" had to do with anything.

Overall, the movie was decent and was slightly similar to the book.  Expect frustration, but you'll be able to watch it.

Happy Reading!

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Every Day by David Levithan 4/5 stars

Hey, guys! I've read David Levithan's Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist and Will Grayson, Will Grayson and loved both, so I decided to read another of David Levithan's most popular books, Every Day.  I definitely enjoyed it, reading it in a single day, and its concept was really interesting.

The Cover:

The Cover:

I can only describe this cover as randomly artistic.  Oh, look! Clouds and flying people! I'm also not a big fan of the title, "Every day."  It works with the story (every day A wakes up in a new body) but its a little melodramatic, in my opinion.

Official Description:

Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.
There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.
It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day

My Review:

I really liked reading this book.  The writing style worked.  I loved the concept behind the book.  Its really cool to have the main character have no gender/ race/ hair color/ body type but regain the same personality. You can't help but be surprised at each transformation.  It was really neat to be able to have the main character randomly thrusted into different situations.

I enjoyed this book and would probably rate it at five stars except for three things (1) the ending (which I will talk about later in a spoiler section), (2) the lack of chemistry between Rhiannon and A, and (3) too much of a message/moral.

Let's start with the chemistry problem.  I just didn't buy that A and Rhiannon were into each other. I believe that A thought that s/he was, but I couldn't quite see it.  There were not a lot of cute moments between the two.  I got more of the feeling of friendship from them than the feeling of a relationship.

Also, the message.  The author was a little heavy handed in laying out the message he wanted his book to give across.  "All types of people, despite sexuality (main point) or race or gender are essentially the same."  It's not that I disagree with his message, but that I disagree with books actively trying to teach me a lesson.  I just end up feeling a little brainwashed.  If you can manage to make your message a little less intrusive to the storyline, I wouldn't mind a "moral of the story" but that wasn't the case in Every Day.  If you've read the book and don't know what I'm talking about, look at the day with Vic.

My last problem was the ending.  (ATTN: SPOILERS IN THIS PARAGRAPH)  The ending was not enough.  I love open endings, but this wasn't an open ending.  It was, in my opinion, the wrong ending.  I would understand if A decided that he and Rhiannon couldn't be together and left.  I get that.  My problem is that he hijacked Andrew's life and hooked him up with his girlfriend.  What was that?  I am also not content that we never learned how A got to be the way he was.  (I would've been happy with a single sentence about it! Maybe from the Reverend?)  Either way, the ending caused me to rethink my evaluation of the entire book. (SPOILERS END HERE)

I just learned that there will be a sequel, Another Day that is told from Rhiannon's perspective.  I don't think that this is necessary and frankly a continuation of a stand-alone book that does not need a continuation, and if it did need a continuation, it's not in the form of a Rhiannon POV.

Phrase:

The devil

Happy Reading!

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn 5/5 stars

Hey, guys! Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist has been on my to read list for years, but I didn't know much about it, so it just kept being postponed.  However, I learned last week that one of the co-authors was David Levithan (co-author of Will Grayson, Will Grayson).  I really loved Will Grayson, Will Grayson, so I thought I'd give it a shot.  And man that was a great idea!
I started this book at 10:30pm and kept reading until I finished (2:30am).  My eighth grade English teacher classified short stories as books that you can read in a single sitting, and, by that logic, this book was a short story.  It was fantastic, and I'd highly recommend it.
However, I must warn you that this book has quite a bit of swearing and a few... sexual situations.  I don't like to recommend ages for books (because it varies so much and I don't want to be responsible for some parent not allowing their kid to read a book) but I would probably limit the target audience to high school aged kids and up. Read the first chapter online and decide for yourself, but that's my loose recommendation.

Anyways, the cover:

The Covers:

This is one of the few books that has multiple cool covers.  The top cover shows New York City at night, where most of this book is set.  It also has a little blurb, "You never know where the night will take you." The second shows intertwining headphones in front of a raining (nice detail) New York City.  I like them both.  A+ covers!

Official Description:

So you're a guy; you're at a band show and your ex, the girl who dumped you, walks in with the new guy. Looking for a safe exit, you ask the girl you happen to sitting with to be your girlfriend for five minutes . You're a girl; you're at a get-together and your least favorite female strolls in. The stranger sitting next to you asks you to be his five-minute date. So what do you? You lock lips . Nick and Norah's instant connection begins a roller-coaster "first date" that takes them through Manhattan and into themselves. A novel concept that works.

My Review:

This book was great! Told in alternating point of views of Nick and Norah, we read about one awesome night where anything can happen.  Both main characters are recovering from a doomed relationship and need a night out, which they accidentally stumble upon with each other.  It was hilarious and awkward and really cute.  

Music is a key point in this book (which you might've guessed from the title).  It ranged through debating if a punk band can work without a drummer, thinking up song lyrics, and wondering if you true nature of relationship is really just the desire to "hold your hand" (Beatles song).  The music was a constant soundtrack underneath the book.  

All of the characters in this book were awesome! Not only were Nick and Norah complicated and complex characters, but so were the minor characters, like Tris/Dev/Caroline.  They also had their own motives and needs. 

The plot line was also lovely.  I was really invested in it! It was very fast paced and exciting.  The writing style was also interesting.  It was told in a more "stream of conscious" style than most books, while still being completely understandable.  It made it really easy to read and added a little something.  

I am a big fan.  The ending in particular was really nice.  It (SPOILER: didn't wrap everything up perfectly so there is plenty of room for imagination SPOILER OFF).  This book was much better than I expected.  It made me want to go read more of David Levithan's and Rachel Cohn's books!

I hear there's a movie? I just watched the trailer and its so off that I'm already mad.  Has anyone read the book and watched the movie? Is it worth seeing?

Phrase:

Where's Fluffy?

Happy Reading!