false 28 648 510 true 5624420 read 3 true 594888 currently-reading 135 true 594887 to-read 219 false 6322042 pre-2006-reads 190 false 3734543 ya 161 false 3734540 fantasy 148 false 3734255 booklist-review 114 false 3734546 juv 98 false 6747264 bccb-review 91 false 4056409 2009-reads 72 false 3735204 2007-reads 71 false 3734713 fiction 65 false 3734651 mystery-and-crime 61 false 3735186 2008-reads 61 false 5299420 favorite-characters 61 false 6463653 arc 58 false 3734720 real-world-fantasy 57 false 5545609 2006-reads 51 false 3734791 humor 46 false 3734625 gns-and-manga 41 false 5299298 queer-characters 40 false 3734518 science-fiction 39 false 5443183 dark 37 false 3734701 horror 33 false 3734596 historical 30 false 3734549 urban-fantasy 27 false 5264882 the-future 26 false 3734560 faeries-and-elves 25 false 5443191 antiheroes 24 false 5299214 legendary-creatures-and-cryptids 22 false 3734654 romance 21 false 3734561 folklore 21 false 5544595 secret-history 18 false 3735128 nonfiction 18 false 3734702 short-stories 17 false 5422885 vamps-werewolves-and-zombies-oh-my 13 false 5443232 ghosts-and-hauntings 12 false 5299376 thieves 10 false 8597712 paranormal-and-supernatural 10 false 4074344 alternate-history 8 false 5447011 environmental 8 false 8598212 other-monsters 7 false 5443180 steampunk 5 false 5519867 didnt-finish 5 false 8598130 angels-and-or-demons 4 false 5545846 writing 3 false 5447023 pop-culture 2 false 5496802 time-travel 1 false 5938421 poetry 1 false 8328744 first-reads http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/61090580 to: Catching Fire (Hunger Games, #2) by Suzanne Collins
bookshelves: 2009-reads, dark, science-fiction, the-future, ya
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/70632680 to: Before I Fall (Paperback) by Lauren Oliver
bookshelves: 2009-reads, arc, booklist-review, fiction, ya
Reviewing for Booklist means I sometimes have to read books I would never pick up, books I expect to dislike immediately upon seeing the cover or reading the publisher’s marketing. I do my best not to let my initial gut feelings influence my professional opinion, and sometimes I am pleasantly surprised by a well-crafted story. Sometimes I am vindicated by reality matching my negative expectations. And sometimes, like in the case with this book, I am totally blown away.

In this case, it wasn’t the cover that turned me off. The cover is beautiful and eye-catching, and creepy in a good way -- once you know the story involves a girl dying and then reliving her last day over and over, you realize how dead the girl on the cover looks, with her glassy-eyed stare and the fact that she’s clearly lying on the ground. Shudder. But awesome. It was the plot summary that made me not look forward to reading the book. This book could easily have been sentimental or depressing or heavy-handed, like a Very Special Story about appreciating your life or caring about others or not going to parties without a designated driver.

But it isn’t sentimental or depressing or heavy-handed. It’s sad at times, yes, and it does have a message that is hard to ignore. Samantha starts out a little unlikable – she’s not a horrible person, but she’s self-absorbed and entitled. She has a comfortable life with a close-knit family, a popular boyfriend, and three best friends. She takes her popularity, and the perks that come with it, for granted, and she and her friends ignore and/or torment those lower on the high-school food chain. The thing is, she doesn’t seem to recognize their casual cruelty for what it is. It’s just the way things are in high school. But anyone reading will see the devastating effects their bullying has on others, particularly shy, quiet Juliet, who has been a long-standing target.

The plot sums up easily. Samantha dies in a car accident Friday night on the way home from a party with her friends, but she realizes she has to relive the entire day when she wakes up in her bed to find it’s Friday morning again. As she lives Friday over and over, trying to figure out how to stop her death, she starts to notice things about her life, her friends, and her family that she never noticed before.

You’d think this would get repetitive, but it doesn’t. Samantha’s death is a mystery that needs solving, and figuring out how and why the car accident happened (so that she can prevent it) unearths a whole bunch of secrets. She is constantly trying new things to get a different ending, and her decisions result in more and more deviations from the first Friday. Something as simple as being late for school instead of being on time has a ripple effect; something more substantial, like not going to school at all, make big changes (keeping in mind that it’s always Friday, of course, so certain scheduled events always take place whether Samantha is there or not).

The story ends up being an intricate dance of action and consequence, and what’s most compelling is how Samantha’s story widens from being focused mostly on her to what’s going on around her. This gradual change is really important, because it shows how much Samantha has changed as a person (more compassionate, more aware of others, more outspoken) and it brings the circumstances leading up to her death into clearer focus (and a twisty set of circumstances it is).

Living the same day over and over is the ultimate learning experience. Overall, this book is about Samantha coming to realize what's truly important and making her life one she can be proud of. Again, I know how this sounds like a Hallmark card, but Oliver manages to do it in a totally believable way without bringing the sap. Let me assure you, I am violently allergic to sap, so I really mean this. It's moving, it's meaningful, and I still can't believe it's a first novel. Wow. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/62699179 The Autumn Castle (Mass Market Paperback) by Kim Wilkins
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/61090445 Leviathan (Hardcover) by Scott Westerfeld
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78905724 In a Dark Place (Mass Market Paperback) by Ray Garton
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77559843 to: The Shadow Dragons (Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica) by James A. Owen
bookshelves: 2009-reads, booklist-review, historical, legendary-creatures-and-cryptids, real-world-fantasy, secret-history, ya
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/26257-december-theme-select-your-book-for-our-unique-systems-of-magic-theme Crowinator voted on the poll: December Theme: select your book for our Unique Systems of Magic theme! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76525836 to: Incarceron (Hardcover) by Catherine Fisher
bookshelves: 2009-reads, arc, booklist-review, fantasy, science-fiction, steampunk, the-future, ya
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78641946 The Chalk-Circle Man (Paperback) by Fred Vargas
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78331671 Just Behind You (Hardcover) by Ramsey Campbell
bookshelves: to-read
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