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February Pick it for Me Challenge--PAIRS POSTED
message 51:
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Sammy Goode
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Feb 02, 2012 03:55AM
Pairs are posted!
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Ab2y wrote: "I'm in ,Ebook (good end) please !!"Ab2y I picked Almost Perfect for you. I haven't read this one yet but I want to. I hope you enjoy it.
Right, off to browse Sammy's shelves and find her something to read....Elci - erm - I haven't got round to putting my YA LGBT books read on my shelves (I know highly disorganised)... but if you pick something that hasn't been highly promoted on the group you should be safe.
Ok, Sammy, I hope this is ok, but I have picked Huntress by Miranda Lo for you I don't think you've read it yet (hope the format is ok as I couldn't see that you'd stated a preference)
K
K wrote: "Cos I am a good girl and Sammy told me I had to... Signing up for this challenge... will read, erm, anything!? no preferences on format but please bear in mind if it has to come from the US to ..."
Ok, for you I choose Exiled to Iowa. Send Help. And Couture. Hope you enjoy.
Randy: For you I'll choose What They Always Tell Us by Martin Wilson. It's available in both ebook and hard copy. =)
Brett - For you I picked Vintage: A Ghost Story by Steve Berman. Let me know if you've already read it, otherwise I hope you like it.
Kaje wrote: "Brett - For you I picked Vintage: A Ghost Story by Steve Berman. Let me know if you've already read it, otherwise I hope you like it."Hey Kaje. Yeah, sorry. I read that one back in December.
Brett wrote: "Kaje wrote: "Brett - For you I picked Vintage: A Ghost Story by Steve Berman. Let me know if you've already read it, otherwise I hope you like it."Hey Kaje. Yeah, so..."
OK - I'll find something else...cue ominous music. BTW, did you like it? It's one of my favorites.
Kaje wrote: "OK - I'll find something else...cue ominous music. BTW, did you like it? It's one of my favorites."Yeah, I really got into that one. It went off in a different direction, but it was really good. I didn't realise until the end that he didn't actually have a name.
Ralph wrote: "I'll join in. Any format is fine, though please no lesbian or trans* stories, please. They're just not my cup of tea. (And if the author's name or the title happen to have an X, you get bonus point..."
Ralph--I've picked Hushed by Kelley York for you. It's available in ebook and paperback. I've got a copy myself, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. A lot of the YA bloggers have enjoyed it, though.
K wrote: "Ok, Sammy, I hope this is ok, but I have picked Huntress by Miranda Lo for you I don't think you've read it yet (hope the format is ok as I couldn't see that you'd stated a prefe..."
thanks so much K--off to buy!
Kat wrote: "Sammy said I should do it... so I'm in :)...and it should be an ebook, please :)"
Hi Sweetie! How's the arm?? Hugs to you dear girl. I chose
by John Green--hope you like it!
Can't wait to get my book picked! Also waiting for Ahlaam to add me so I can check out the bookshelves and assign a book. :) Everyone else seems to be getting great picks so far!
Brett do you have a Nook? Because I want to give you The Door Into Fire by Diane Duane but I found it as a Nook book but not as a Kindle. It's also in PB/HC but out of print, so only used.
Kaje wrote: "Brett do you have a Nook? Because I want to give you The Door Into Fire by Diane Duane but I found it as a Nook book but not as a Kindle. It's also in PB/HC but out of..."I've got a Kindle, but I managed to find it on Smashwords--so I can just get the mobi file there. Thanks, Kaje.
Can I just say--I LOVE that everyone is sharing books---you guys rock--thank you for trying out this challenge!!!!
Elci wrote: "Ok, for you I choose Exiled to Iowa. Send Help. And Couture. Hope you enjoy. "Thanks Elci... looks like it could be amusing...I have downloaded it onto the kindle all ready to start!
Sammy2006 wrote: "Kat wrote: "Sammy said I should do it... so I'm in :)...and it should be an ebook, please :)"
Hi Sweetie! How's the arm?? Hugs to you dear girl. I chose [bookcover:Will Grayson, Will Grayson|..."
Great, thanks Sammy :) I already read 'An Abundance of Katherines' by one of the authors and liked it a lot!
Jennifer wrote: "Can't wait to get my book picked! Also waiting for Ahlaam to add me so I can check out the bookshelves and assign a book. :) Everyone else seems to be getting great picks so far!"Added! You can pretty much rec me anything and chances are I haven't read it yet :)
Here's yours Elci: Will Grayson, Will GraysonEverytime I found a good book for you, it turns out you read it so here we go. This book sound pretty good :D
Hi Ahlaam! Loved looking at your bookshelf. Hurray, another manga reader like me! :D So many great books to choose it's really hard to decide... But I think I'll go with Mystery of the Tempest: A Fisher Key Adventure by Sam Cameron. I really enjoyed it because it has many layers between the twin brothers (and includes the title to my favorite Shakespearean play). It's available as both a paperback and ebook. Let me know if you can't find it anywhere!
Jennifer wrote: "I love this idea! I'm new to the group (as of a few minutes ago) but I would love to participate. My name is Jen, and I will read any format: ebook, paperback, etc. Paperback is fine because most..."
Hi Jennifer my pick for you is
one of my favorites , we read it couple months ago here , hope you like it :)
Thanks, Ab2y! It looks great. Can't wait to get started. :)
@Kat... I read Geography Club about two years ago...I don't remember much of it, other than that there were a couple parts that made me want to throw the book. @Kaje... I've picked your book, if you haven't already read it (I tried checking your bookshelves, but you have a LOT of books on there and I'm sure I missed something): Bait by Alex Sanchez. (Trigger warning on this book due to sexual abuse/molestation.) Let me know if that's okay; if it isn't, I'll assign you one of mine. LOL
Cheryl wrote: "Ab2y wrote: "I'm in ,Ebook (good end) please !!"Ab2y I picked Almost Perfect for you. I haven't read this one yet but I want to. I hope you enjoy it."
i really liked the book but it's not available in our countries even in kindle format can you please pick something else for me :)
Jo wrote: "@Kat... I read Geography Club about two years ago...I don't remember much of it, other than that there were a couple parts that made me want to throw the book. @Kaje... I've picked your book, if ..."
I have read everything of Alex Sanchez, and I did like Bait. Sorry - give me one of yours. I'd love to have a reason to push them to the top of my over-long TBR.
Ab2y wrote: "Cheryl wrote: "Ab2y wrote: "I'm in ,Ebook (good end) please !!"Ab2y I picked Almost Perfect for you. I haven't read this one yet but I want to. I hope you enjoy it."
i really ..."
Well that sucks. Lets try Dumb Jock by Jeff Erno I really liked that book. The sequel was just released and I can't wait to read it.
If you pm me your email I can send it to you.
Jo wrote: "@Kat... I read Geography Club about two years ago...I don't remember much of it, other than that there were a couple parts that made me want to throw the book. @Kaje... I've picked your book, if ..."
Ok, I'll pick another one for you :)
Hey Jo, I have several other books on my list :) What about The Perks of Being a Wallflower or The God Box? A book I really liked (although it was too close to the truth for me sometimess...) is Suicide Notes by Michael Thomas Ford.
Hmmm.... do you find a book you like among these? I have more ;)
Cheryl wrote: "Ab2y wrote: "Cheryl wrote: "Ab2y wrote: "I'm in ,Ebook (good end) please !!"Ab2y I picked Almost Perfect for you. I haven't read this one yet but I want to. I hope you enjoy it."
..."
Thank you , i can get this one ^_^
@Kaje...Okay, how about my book The Black Bridge? Since the third in that series should be out soon...@Kat...I haven't read The Perks of being a Wallflower and it's been on my to-read list.
Jo wrote: "@Kaje...Okay, how about my book The Black Bridge? Since the third in that series should be out soon...@Kat...I haven't read The Perks of being a Wallflower and it's been on my to-..."
Ok, The Perks of being a Wallflower it is :) Enjoy!!!!
Jo wrote: "@Kaje...Okay, how about my book The Black Bridge? Since the third in that series should be out soon...@Kat...I haven't read The Perks of being a Wallflower and it's been on my to-..."
Ok, The Perks of being a Wallflower it is :) Enjoy!!!!
Jo wrote: "@Kaje...Okay, how about my book The Black Bridge? Since the third in that series should be out soon..."Works for me - it's available for my Nook so that makes it easy.
Ralph wrote: "Randy: For you I'll choose What They Always Tell Us by Martin Wilson. It's available in both ebook and hard copy. =)"I just purchased the ebook from B&N.com and will read it this week end.
Randy
Randy wrote: "Cheryl, I'm told I am to give you your challange so I recommend EnlightenedJ.P Barnaby's LITTLE BOY LOST 1: ENLIGHTENED
Randy"
That series is most definitely not YA appropriate. JP is an erotic romance writer and she's even said herself that the books aren't YA even though the characters are young.
Cheryl, I will let Randy know he should pick something else. I agree with Ralph on this and so I have deleted Randy's comment. Sorry everyone but it is really important that we check on this thread what we are recommending--Everyone makes mistakes so we will leave it at that. Thank you Ralph!
Just as an aside... I would love to see a non-erotic, YA-appropriate version of the Little Boy Lost series. Kind of like AKM Miles did when she transformed one of her adult M/M romance stories into the slightly-more-appropriate-for-YA Undercover Assignment. (Though there was still a scene in that that I found inappropriate, but I can be a little prudish sometimes when it comes to YA content...)@Kat, I bought Perks last night and will start reading it when my eyes don't hurt so much (still adjusting to new reading glasses).
@Kaje, hope you enjoy! Be blunt and brutal with your review; I like honest opinions :)
Okay. Read Perks of Being a Wallflower.Did not like it.
I'd heard great things about this book, which was why it was on my to-read list. But it's definitely not my cup of tea. The narrative was disjointed and hard to follow (I realize that was the intention, given the narrator's mental illness, but it yanked me out of the story more than once). Although the narrator was supposed to be 15, turning 16 in the course of the story, he came across as less mature and less socially-savvy than my 13-year-old daughter, who is on the autism spectrum. Again, that may have been due to the narrator's mental illness, but in some spots I found myself wanting to yell, "For pete's sake, get a clue!"
I wanted to yell that at his parents a few times too; this is a boy who's been hospitalized in the past for depression and near-catatonia, and yet he apparently has no supervision at all, goes out to all-night parties where he gets drunk and high, and some of those parties are on school nights. He tells his parents he's going out and they're just, "Okay, see you." Um...WTF?
The narrator didn't come across to me as a fully-realized character; I didn't have much sense of him other than the aforementioned immaturity and social awkwardness. He's supposedly academically gifted, but he didn't even seem particularly intelligent in the narrative. Again, this may be due to the mental illness; having dealt with depression myself, I know that when one is depressed, one is often not a fully-realized person in one's own mind. But it still made for a rather clunky book. I had no connection to the main character at all and didn't really care what happened to him.
The bright spots of the story were his friends Patrick and Sam (a girl). I don't know why they were his friends; at first, they seemed to treat him like a bit of a pet, and I could wrap my head around that, but the actual friendship, and then the fact that both Sam and another girl in their group apparently "like-liked" the narrator, even though they were seniors and he was a freshman, just boggled my mind. I had a hard time finding anything likable about the kid, let alone "like-likable". However, Patrick and Sam were much more vibrant characters than the narrator, and it was nice to see a gay supporting character without a big deal being made about the fact that Patrick is gay. (I cried a little when his relationship with a closeted jock crashed down. That was my only emotional reaction to anything in the story.)
Kat, I appreciate the chance to stretch my reading wings and cross a book off my list, but I definitely won't be re-reading this one.
Jo wrote: "Okay. Read Perks of Being a Wallflower.Did not like it.
I'd heard great things about this book, which was why it was on my to-read list. But it's definitely not my cup of tea. The narrative was ..."
We obviously have somewhat different tastes - I enjoyed The Geography Club and liked its sequel even more (really loved The Order of the Poison Oak). And I somewhat liked this one, although I had the same problem with his parents and with the story-telling. I did connect with the narrator, including his social ineptness - maybe that says something about my skills, so I cared what happened to him, but the story could have been tighter. (I gave it 3 stars.)
Kaje wrote: "Jo wrote: "Okay. Read Perks of Being a Wallflower.Did not like it.
I'd heard great things about this book, which was why it was on my to-read list. But it's definitely not my cup of tea. The nar..."
SO Kaje--this is not the review of your challenge book--right? this is just your comment on Jo's selection from Kat--just trying to be sure wo I don't mark you finished!
I liked Geography Club, there were just some WTH moments for me. I wouldn't mind reading the sequel to it. (Didn't know there was one.) I checked the other reviews of Perks and found one that said almost exactly what I've said here, so I just commented on it saying I agreed.
I'm very socially awkward myself, and so is my daughter because of her autism, but from my perspective Charlie made us look completely competent. Remember our conversation about teens sounding like teens? I felt like the author of this book went too far the other way; his teen sounded like an elementary school student who'd been advanced to high school because of academic prowess or something. Several of the Goodreads reviews I read of the book questioned whether Charlie might be autistic, and that was the vibe I got as well: autistic, and not as high-functioning as my daughter.
That's the cool thing about reading and writing, though; not everyone likes everything, but everyone's guaranteed to find something they like and can connect with :) The book has definitely gotten some great reviews, including from sources more professional than Goodreads, so I'm sure there's something to it. It just didn't work for me.
Sammy2006 wrote: "SO Kaje--this is not the review of your challenge book--right? this is just your comment on Jo's selection from Kat--just trying to be sure wo I don't mark you finished! ..."No ma'am, not done yet. Just a comment. (I'm reading The Black Bridge.) The Geo Club was Jo's first recommended book that had her Kindle-throwing.
I read Geo Club as a paperback :) LOL. There were only a couple small parts in Geo Club that made me want to wall-bang; it has been a couple years and I might like it better now. I'd asked Kat for a different book mainly because I thought we were supposed to read something we'd never read before.
Jo wrote: "I read Geo Club as a paperback :) LOL. There were only a couple small parts in Geo Club that made me want to wall-bang; it has been a couple years and I might like it better now. I'd asked Kat fo..."
I think that is the goal - just when I read your comment it sounded like you had bad memories of it and it's one I continue to recommend. But tastes do vary (thank goodness or there would be no one but Josh Lanyon out there in my field LOL.)
It's funny how one and the same book provoces such different reactions :) I have to read them both... when I finished Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Kat wrote: "It's funny how one and the same book provoces such different reactions :) I have to read them both... when I finished Will Grayson, Will Grayson"Wallflower may or may not be worth your time - my reaction was more positive than Jo's but still somewhat meh - read an excerpt first if you can. There are people who loved it though.
I strongly recommended Geography Club to my older daughter (who is bisexual and has decided to come out on my blog tomorrow...if I don't censor her name in the post; she's actually doing it as part of her post about Rainbow Boys) and she loved it and recommended it to all her friends. I think my two or three wallbanger moments might have been due more to the fact that I'm an old fogie (and former teacher) than to any fault in the story; now I want to find out if my daughter still has our copy so I can reread it :) I'm definitely glad tastes vary! On both sides of my writing coin (YA and adult romance) I've had reviews of books where some people praised the story for the exact same thing some people were trashing it for. I'm at the point with most reviews where I figure no matter whether the person loved or hated my book, at least they read it.
Jo wrote: "I strongly recommended Geography Club to my older daughter (who is bisexual and has decided to come out on my blog tomorrow...if I don't censor her name in the post; she's actually doing it as part..."Oh good luck to you and your daughter. That would be a hard decision, both for you and for her. How old is she?
YA LGBT Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Almost Perfect (other topics)The Door Into Fire (other topics)
Will Grayson, Will Grayson (other topics)
Exiled to Iowa. Send Help. And Couture. (other topics)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Martin Wilson (other topics)Steve Berman (other topics)
Steve Berman (other topics)
Steve Berman (other topics)
Kelley York (other topics)
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