Review: The Other Normals by Ned Vizzini (ARC)

The Other Normals by Ned Vizzini
Balzar + Bray, 400 Pages
US Release Date: September 25, 2012
Format: ARC
Source: Gift from author - thank you SO much! (read about it here)

Given the chance, fifteen-year-old Peregrine “Perry” Eckert would dedicate every waking moment to Creatures & Caverns, an epic role-playing game rich with magical creatures, spell casting, and deadly weapons. The world of C&C is where he feels most comfortable in his own skin, so when his parents ship him off to summer camp Perry is sure he’s in for the worst summer of his life.

Everything changes, however, when Perry gets to camp and stumbles into the World of the Other Normals. Perry’s new otherworldly friends need his help to save their princess and prevent mass violence. As they embark on their quest together, Perry realizes that his nerdy childhood has uniquely prepared him to be a great warrior in this world, and maybe even a hero.

Bestselling author Ned Vizzini delivers a compulsively readable and wildly original story about the winding and often hilarious path to manhood.
----------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

"That's the number one thing I hear about humans. You have all these choices, so you're confused all the time, and you think so much that you're never happy."

I think the best word for The Other Normals would be quirky. The concept is a bit quirky, the main character Perry is a bit quirky, the World of The Other Normals is a bit quirky, pretty much any way you approach this book...it's odd, and weird, and completely unlike anything I've encountered. And I love that.

Even though it's a fairly hefty book at 400 pages, I flew through it in no time flat: there's something so smooth about the storyline and you go so seamlessly between the worlds, you barely notice (aside from the giant printed words!). Ned Vizzini's writing has always been captivating to me; the descriptions, personifications, every word has a purpose and they work together so well. It's hard to describe, but whenever I'm reading anything of his...it just feels familiar, even if they're words I've never heard before. I feel like I'm coming back to an old friend.

This will sound stupid, but something I didn't take into account when reading this is that it was going to be about an RPG game - which is something I have no interest in. I've never understood games like Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, etc. and even though it's callous of me to say, I don't really want to understand them. I've just never understood the appeal, and while of course everyone is free to like what they will, it's not for me. So when I started reading The Other Normals and realized that oh...I'm going to be reading about a game (called Creatures & Caverns in the book)...it was kind of tough to hold my attention, simply because games like that make my eyes glaze over. So just...be more aware than I was going in!

The other difficulty was with two of the characters. The first was Perry, the main boy. I just didn't like him much. He was awkward and weird, and not really in an endearing way - more in a cover my eyes and ears way, where I get secondhand embarrassment and want to duck my head and hide behind my hair. He made me cringe with some of his actions and thoughts, and while I'm sure those are actually very real things to a teenage boy, it just made me uncomfortable. Perry is self-involved and a bit rude, and there were definite moments I had to just take a deep breathe and remind myself that 1) he's a teenage boy, and 2) he's a character in a book. The second character I had a small issue with was Sam - he was so two-faced with Perry, which bothered me a bit; but mostly, he felt underdeveloped. I couldn't quite figure out why he did some of the things he did, and there were so many more possibilities with him! He could have been a fantastic asset to Perry in the real world, but he just...wasn't.

However! I kind of fell in love with the World of The Other Normals, and especially with the two that Perry falls in with: Mortin Enaw and Ada Ember. They were such a fun bunch, and I loved their outlook on life. I was also fascinated with the existence of The World of The Other Normals, and how it did in relation to the real world - such a weird, fun concept, and I like the idea of there being transition points between the two. It was creative and original, and I enjoyed how the actions in one would effect what happens in the other world. The Other World was so much fun to discover, and even though the world itself wasn't built too much, I enjoyed all the characters that appeared in there. It was fun to read about each one and see what crazy person/hybrid would pop up next.

The story itself was a great adventure, too - I feel like I examine elements of books so often that I forget to look at the book as a whole. Which would be a shame for The Other Normals, because the storyline is the best part! The entire plot is an awesome mix of fantasy geekdom and weapon-wielding adventure and travel with some hilarious shenanigans, odd friendships in even odder places, and an exciting ending that involved a fairly epic showdown in a summer camp mess hall thrown in.

Underlying all the fun are some great lessons and bigger pictures, too. One of my favourite elements of a Vizzini novel is the subtle wisdom that permeates it; you're learning without even realizing, because they're embedded so well in the content. And thankfully, The Other Normals delivers with that, too. Watching Perry kind of grow up, we get to see a boy finally understand what it means to live your life as opposed to wanting to live a different one. And I really enjoyed watching Perry figure out girls (or at least attempt to!) and the dynamics of relationships and friendships; it's meaningful at the same time as being funny.

While I'm not sure if The Other Normals will be for everyone, I hope that everyone at least tries - it's surprising in the weirdest, most creative way.

4 Stars / 5

The Weekly Wrap-Up (13)

This week's blog happenings:

Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry. Totally worth all the heartache. 4.5 Stars

Monthly Reads: October 2012. I'm being ambitious, but they all look so good!

Shanon's FIRST review(!!): The First Part Last by Angela Johnson. 4 Stars

Event Recap: Shannon Messenger's Keeper of the Lost Cities Launch Party!

Coming up next week:

Reviews for The Other Normals by Ned Vizzini and Between You & Me by Marisa Calin, and a FAB Waiting on Wednesday pick!

In case you missed it...

I was over at the amazing Katelyn's blog for a fun This Or That session! Click over to see how I seamlessly blend Zombieland, Buffy, and genre binging into one post :) (Thanks Katelyn!)

My giveaway to celebrate Shanon being a contributor here ends Sunday! Have you entered yet? It's INTERNATIONAL! The winner can choose one of these books:

Onto the book haul!

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews, The Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer, and In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren!

 I wasn't going to do one, but I realized I forgot a few in last week's epic post!

Library

Purity by Jackson Pearce

Been dying to read this and it finally came into circulation - yay!

Catch of the Day by Kristan Higgins

I've been hearing a lot of great things about this author, and when I saw this sitting right next to my table at the library...

Purchased

Burn For Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

I went to their tour kickoff, so I bought it there! And lucky for you all, I got my ARC signed and an extra poster to give away...but that'll be later ;)

Ten by Gretchen McNeil

Because I went to her book launch event up in Redondo Beach! She's hilarious and adorable. I also got my ARC signed by her, which I'll be giving away at the end of October!

Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger (pictured here)

I took the picture of the books before the event (recap here!), but I bought it for her Launch!

Won

Crewel ARC by Gennifer Albin (signed!)

Through her Twitter contest! I actually already have a personalized ARC from her, so this'll be given away at some point, too :)

What books came into your possession this past week?

Leave your link and I'll hop by!

Event Recap: Keeper of the Lost Cities Launch Party!

One of the things I love about living in San Diego is that we have a surprisingly (to me, anyway) large amount of local authors. I totally get why, since San Diego is where it's at. *flips hair*

But really. I am lucky to live within distance of so many talented people and get to meet fab authors and writers at events. Shannon Messenger was someone who's MG book Keeper of the Lost Cities I'd heard a LOT about - and I may have gushed just a smidge when I saw and met her at the YA or Bust event. Since then, I've had the pleasure of seeing her at a few more events, and she is always the cutest, sweetest, bubbliest person ever. So when I found out Shannon was having her launch for Keeper at the Oceanside BN, there was zero question that I would be there!

The entire event can be summed up in these words: So adorable and fun!

This is the first event I've gone to for a middle grade book (I don't think those happen often...anyone know?), so I admit to having to adjust to having so many kids running around. Full disclosure: children make me nervous. I just don't know how to talk to them! I will either baby talk to a 15 year old, or start chatting about college classes and textbooks to a 4 year old. It just doesn't work with me.

But! Seeing adorable middle schoolers talking so excitedly with Shannon about her book? Totally worth it. Shannon's face was so lit up, and the kids were so engaged and into the story...that is a total dream for an author, and getting to witness it was pretty magical. It makes me excited for the hopeful one day I will get to talk to someone who has read something I've written.

Also: one of the best set ups for an event ever! Shannon's family had brought tons of balloons, and she went all out with a fantastic baked goods spread (I chose the rice krispy treat over the ginormous cupcakes - delicious!), plus had a bunch of amazing goodies to give away or hand out...she knows how to do a Launch right!

Look at that set up! Plus, do you see Ella the Elephant on the table? So cute!

It started with Shannon discussing who she is and giving a small summary of Keeper, and after she read aloud a scene (if you've read it, it's the scene with Keefe!). There was a small bit of time after she finished reading an excerpt, so she answered questions - and let me tell you, it was mostly children asking her questions and it was so freakin' adorable I just wanted to squeal! There was a massive line for signing at the end, but that was fine for me because I was in line with Andrea Ortega and Amy Tintera and got to chat with them. 

As per my usual event recap posts, let's do a bullet list!

• Before the event officially started I overheard a bunch of fifth and sixth graders chatting with Shannon: they're doing NaNoWriMo! And they were talking with her about what they were going to write.
• Keeper went through literally TWENTY drafts. The final hardcopy version? Draft 20.
• She had to change Fitz's hair in the story because he was originally blonde like Sophie and it made them look like brother/sister on the book cover.
• A young girl told Shanon that the Sophie on the book cover looks like her, and Shannon laughed and said "When I was 12, I was not that cute."
• Keeper took about 4 years total to write. Two years of planning, two years to write.
• When asked how she felt about writing the book, Shannon said it was stressful but a ton of fun.
• Shannon always like writing, but was very into the idea of doing art. When she realized art may not work out, she went into screenwriting. And then she realized she liked the writing part, but not the Hollywood part.
• Shannon is very proud of her book, but also thinks it's scary that it's out in the world now.
• A very adorable boy asked her if she liked magic things when she was young, to which Shannon replies yes, she really liked unicorns but there actually weren't too many magical books out at the time (like Harry Potter).
• She called Keeper a book written for her 12-year-old self because that was the age she ran out of things to read. She loved the Indian in the Cupboard series and wanted to write her book report on it, but her teacher told her it was too young for her, and gave her Little Women.
• When Shannon was growing up, there was a small gap in books available during Middle Grade years, and that's one of the reasons she wrote Keeper.
• Shannon gave charm bracelets and necklaces to a bunch of kids based on who came the farthest to see her.

So yes, definitely one of the best events I've been at - and possibly the best in terms of cuteness! I'm so happy for Shannon to get to see her book out and interacting with children who have read it. While I have not yet finished my ARC, I am about 50 pages in...and I seriously love it so far!

ARC on the right, beautiful shiny hard copy on the left!

I had her double sign my ARC since I had her sign it a few months ago when I saw her again.

I love doing these events, especially since I got to see a bunch of writer/author/reader friends that I don't normally see. Anyone coming to YA in the Sun? Because that's where we'll all be next!

Have you read Keeper of the Lost Cities?

*Photo Disclosure: I did my best to choose photos that didn't show any of the children's faces - if you are the parent of any of these kids and are uncomfortable with the photo being on my page, please contact me here and I will remove ASAP! Thank you!

Shanon Review: The First Part Last by Angela Johnson

The First Part Last by Angela Johnson
Simon Pulse, Hardcover: 144 Pages
US Release Date: June 1, 2003

Bobby is your classic urban teenaged boy -- impulsive, eager, restless. On his sixteenth birthday he gets some news from his girlfriend, Nia, that changes his life forever. She's pregnant. Bobby's going to be a father. Suddenly things like school and house parties and hanging with friends no longer seem important as they're replaced by visits to Nia's obstetrician and a social worker who says that the only way for Nia and Bobby to lead a normal life is to put their baby up for adoption.

With powerful language and keen insight, Johnson looks at the male side of teen pregnancy as she delves into one young man's struggle to figure out what "the right thing" is and then to do it. No matter what the cost.
--------------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

I've been thinking about it. Everything. And when Feather opens her eyes and looks up at me, I already know there's change. But I figure if the world were really right, humans would live life backward and do the first part last. They'd be all knowing in the beginning and innocent in the end.

This book can change your life in the quietest of ways, if you let it. We meet Bobby and within a few paragraphs learn two things: he's very young, and he's a father. He's just barely sixteen when his girlfriend Nia lets him know, via a red balloon, that they are going to be parents. From there, the journey escalates into unusual territory for this subject. As a general trend when dealing with teen pregnancy, we experience it from the mother's point of view. I truly enjoyed the novelty of seeing it from a young man's perspective. As a woman, I appreciated very much that Bobby wasn't addicted to drugs, homeless or abusive. He's presented as a young man who made a decision that came with a very adult consequence.

As a reader, I just found myself involved. Johnson's writing is spare, much like my own journals at that age, which lends such reality to a book that could just be a story of someone else. But it was too easy to imagine myself at that age: hormones raging, a drop of common sense and basically dumb like rocks when it came to love, lust, commitment and change.

But sweet Bobby...he means to do so well by his little girl, Feather. (side note: Love or Hate the name?) His mother has made it clear that his world has changed, that parenthood is an irreversible threshold into the universe no longer revolving around him. He's raising a little girl on his own while still attempting to go to school, have his friends and learn to be a man.

The story is framed in mini chapters flashing between Now and Then. I wasn't sure I'd appreciate that in the beginning; plots can develop manholes the size of Montana when the times flicker back and forth. That's where Angela Johnson's pure genius shines through because the major lesson Bobby, Nia, their parents and friends learn is that life has just been split into two categories: before and after.

The First Part Last, though not lengthy at only 83 pages, is definitely a book to share. It's a bit of a cautionary tale without heaping judgment on the characters. Johnson shows what it means to have your world changed and I think it's something we should all experience at least once.

4 Stars / 5

Monthly Reads: October 2012

Monthly Reads is a feature highlighting the books I've got in my TBR for that month. It's a way of sharing the ones I'm excited for and trying to relieve the pressure of "having" to read an ARC or new release.

September was actually really successful for me! Of the 11 books shared here, I read 8 of them! I did also read 3 unplanned ones, but that was expected that to happen. Hooray! I hope to keep it up for October. I know I'm being ambitious with the quantity I've got pictured, but when I was scanning my shelves for books that felt like good October reads I just kept pulling choices! We'll see how it goes!

Feel like good books to lead up to Halloween:
  The Diviners by Libba Bray
  Crewel by Ginnifer Albin
  Black City by Elizabeth Richards
  Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard
  Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan*

In Progress:
  Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger
  The Forsaken by Lisa M. Stasse

To-Read:
  Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
  Burn For Burn by Jenny Han and Sioban Vivian
  52 Reasons to Hate My Father by Jessica Brody
  Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
  Ex-Mas by Kate Brian
  The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
  Send Me A Sign by Tiffany Schmidt
  Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo (which is apparently now called Good Oil?)*

 *represented by the iPad since they're on NetGalley!

So, yes: ambitious. I know. But I just want to read them all so badly!

Have you read any? Which should I start with?

What are you planning to read in October?

Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry (eARC)

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
Harlequin Teen, 409 Pages
US Release Date: July 24, 2012
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher, via NetGalley (thank you!)

SO WRONG FOR EACH OTHER...AND YET SO RIGHT.

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with “freaky” scars on her arms. Even Echo can’t remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.

But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo’s world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she’ll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.
-----------------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

Shit, what if she did trust me? What would I do with it?

I went into this novel with a lot of expectations - I heard nothing but great things about it from other bloggers, read absolutely raving reviews, and when I was at ALA this was a book everyone was speaking of. High expectations, lots of potential to be let down.

But I wasn't. Oh, I absolutely was NOT.

I don't know if I'm as stark raving mad about it as a few other reviewers, but I can tell you that everything you've heard is absolutely true. This story is gripping and gut wrenching and just rips your heart to shreds at the same time as filling it to the brim. There's emotion dripping off each page, angst and real heart in every word. This is a story worthy of the heartsickness it will cause.

First and foremost, we have to discuss Noah. Oh, Noah. If ever the prototype bad boy to fall for, it's him. And while I totally get all the swoonage for him, he just didn't do it for me - but that's entirely a personal thing. I think my bad boy will always be the Will from Infernal Devices; he's snarky and rebellious for half-pompous and half-noble reasons. Noah's a bad boy because he actually does bad shit. And even if most of it comes from a good place or with good intentions, it's still bad. Regardless, I found myself falling in love with him, too. He's so hard and vulnerable at the same time, so filled with love and anger that he's this passionate guy with aggression as the only way to express it. Something I loved with him is that I never doubted his capacity to love Echo. In some bad boy characters, they're just so hard-hearted and cruel that I think the love story is forced - but not with Noah. His fists fly, but his heart is huge, too, and there's no way to resist that.

Echo was a little harder for me to love, but I can't quite pinpoint why. I think I just wanted to shake her and tell her to man the hell up. She was a little too weak for my tastes. And while I can get why, her progression just wasn't fast enough for me to love. Still, her character is great, and everything she's endured makes how tentative she is easily understood. I'm probably being quite cavalier saying she should be stronger, actually, because the crap she's gone through with her mom, and not being able to remember it...well, I'd probably be crumbling in a corner. And that she's just lost her brother in Iraq on top of that all? I couldn't survive that.

There were a lot of elements of this story that surprised me. All I'd ever heard was the smokin' hot boy and their smoldering romance - and yeah, that's definitely what I focus on. But there are smaller details that I truly loved, too. Like why Echo is named that, and her brother being named Aires. Or the friendships - or lack thereof, when it comes to that heinous bitch Grace. I hated her. But the friends that did stick by Echo in the aftermath, and Noah's friends...those are friendships worth fighting for. Or Aires, who was an element I was completely taken aback by - we know my military hangups, and it made it that much harder to read because there was one specific scene that just...killed me. I literally dropped my iPad and started sobbing because it is a thought that haunts me.

But what I did love was how real the hurt was throughout this book. It's tough to see some of these things written, even though I've never experienced anything like what Echo or Noah have gone or go through. It's a lot of those inner fears and thoughts we can't admit to having, because we're afraid that will make them true. While it made it difficult to get through, it also made it impossible to put down.

My favourite character? Mrs. Collins, the counselor. Hands down. She was batshit crazy (driving, especially - loved all those moments in the car with Noah!), but she was a good woman, and I loved her belief in Noah and Echo. In a book where all the adult characters probably deserve a good room in hell, she was a breathe of fresh air with a side of funny, too.

One question. Why did the horrible babysitter-turned-stepmom have to be named Ashley?! I mean, really.

4.5 Stars / 5