New book!

If I Stay by Gayle Forman


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Mia is a talented cellist who loves her family and her rocker boyfriend. Her life is great...before. After the car accident that kills her family she must decide whether life is worth living or if she should join them. Through flashbacks and memories, readers learn all about Mia's relationship with her friends, boyfriend and family members.

Fans of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones will love this book. If you like to be moved to tears, this is the book for you. Make sure you have kleenex nearby! This book is available in our new YA fiction section.

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Carbon Diaries 2015...a little too realistic

The Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I've read quite a few futuristic/we ruined the environment and the world books, but this one scared me the most...probably because this possible future isn't too far off. The year is 2015 and London has had a Great Storm that devastated the infrastructure. Now England is rationing energy in the form of individual carbon cards. All Laura wants to do is play in her band and hopefully score a date with her next door neighbor, Ravi. Her diary from the year 2015 shows, though, that the reality of her life is anything but typical for a middle class teenager. She and her family must cut back on all luxuries (including showers! and vacations!) severely and necessities like water and food are suddenly in very short supply. Laura's family has never been close and the crisis is making things even more difficult. Survival as a family and survival in general is now on the line.



I recommend this to anyone who cares about the environment and likes learning about the consequences of global warming/wasteful humans. I'd also recommend it to anyone who likes reading books about teenagers with family problems. I would love to read this with teenagers as part of a discussion about global warming and ways we can personally be "greener" and our responsibility as citizens to help our country adopt greener policies. The book seems to argue that we won't do anything about the crisis until it really is an immediate crisis...at which point it may be too late. We should definitely take preventative action!


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The Roar...dystopian sci-fi thriller...

The Roar by Emma Clayton

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Mika is a twin living in a futuristic world where all of humanity lives in the northern hemisphere of Earth behind a Wall due to an Animal Plague that has made the rest of Earth uninhabitable. Mika is twelve years old and is part of the first generation born since the Plague took hold over 40 years ago. Life is uncomfortable and unpleasant for most people (i.e. the poor people) who have to live in confined spaces, eat colored mold, are terrified of the idea of animals and barely ever see the sun. Mika's twin, Ellie, is missing, but Mika senses that she is not dead, as their parents presume. When the government begins offering Mika and all his classmates FitMix and encourages them to play arcade games after school, Mika is suspicious. Once he learns that playing the game is the only way to get closer to Ellie, however, he is determined to win...no matter the cost.



I'm completely creeped out by Clayton's take on the future we're headed towards if we continue to trash our world. (I like to be creeped out by dystopian future Certain elements of the book were confusing and seemed not to fit with the story. The ending was pretty open and left room for a sequel, but I've found no indication that there will be one. I wouldn't mind having to imagine my own ending in this case. Clayton is a first-time author and I look forward to reading more. I wish I could give this 3.5 stars. I recommend this book to anyone who liked The Hunger Games by Collins, Unwind by Wasserman or Carbon Diaries 2015 by Lloyd


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Fire in the basement!

I wasn't here yesterday because it was my random Thursday off, but apparently I missed an exciting day at the library. A light fixture in the basement auditorium caught on fire and burned through the cover. The fire department came and the library was closed for about two and a half hours while things got cleaned up.

What does this mean for library programs? The only programs that will be canceled are today's movie (and possibly next week's movie) and the Teen Game Day scheduled for next Tuesday the 14th at 3 p.m. (booooo!!!) All other programs will either be outside or in the Town Hall auditorium depending on the weather and the program.

Specifically:

Pajama Storytime Monday, July 13 will be upstairs in the kids room

Toddler Storytimes on Tuesday, July 14 (9:30 and 10:15) will be either outside or in the Town Hall auditorium (depending on weather)

Summer Escapades with Diane Edgecomb (storyteller with harp! awesome!) on Wednesday, July 15 at 10 a.m. will be in Town Hall auditorium

Crafternoon/Gamernoon Wednesdays 3 - 5 p.m. will be upstairs in the youth room

Art with Sara Thursday, July 16 from 10 to 11 a.m. will be in Town Hall auditorium

Big Kid & Baby Storytimes on Fridays 10 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. respectively will be either outside or in the Town Hall auditorium (depending on weather)

It stinks, but thank goodness for beautiful Town Hall right across the street!!

How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier (who is married to Scott Westerfeld!! of the Uglies series!!) is about a girl named Charlie who is sick of her fairy. She goes to an all-sports-school and lives in New Avalon, a place where some people have specific-good-luck fairies that help them with things. i.e. a shopping fairy or a parking fairy like Charlie. Charlie hates her parking fairy and wishes she had a all-boys-like-you fairy like Fiorenze. Charlie has been walking everywhere in an attempt to freeze out her fairy, but it's taking forever. Is there a quicker way? And will she survive it?



This book is very clever and the dialogue is fast and snappy. I couldn't really predict what would happen next and it was fun to see the consequences of Charlie's choices. A good read!


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The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book takes place in a fundamentalist community where Kyra has three mothers, lots of siblings and has just been promised to her uncle as his seventh wife. The Prophet in their community, Prophet Childs, has instituted new rules that involve burning all outside influences (including books!) and keeping to a strict set of social rules. The author does an amazing job showing how desperate Kyra has become to escape her world. As the plot escalates, Kyra's emotional state becomes more and more unhinged and the reader must just go along for the ride. I read the last fifty pages of the book while walking around the house because I couldn't sit and read this book...it was just too intense. Overall, I'd say this book is horrifying, very sad and impossible to ignore.


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Book Challenge Update

I know, I know. I said I'd read for over 20 hours and finish 5 books. In total I actually read only 15 hours and only finished 4 books within the 48 hour time limit. I did finish The Actor and the Housewife the next day, but that obviously doesn't count.

Am I disappointed in myself? A bit. Will was out of town and it rained all weekend so I really should have been able to read more. I did run a 10K, help a family member pack for a move, have dinner with a friend and watch a movie, though.

I'm looking forward to participating in the "official" 48 hour book challenge next year, but in the meantime I'll continue to add to goodreads and see if I can make it to 1000 books read in less than 5 years. Since I've been on Goodreads for two years already and have already read 402 books, I'll wager that I'm going to make