The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

This book was similar to The Maze Runner, of course, since it was Book Two I suppose. It was equally interesting. The book was action-packed. Thomas and his group must pass through a land so hot they can't expose their skin to the sun because of sun flares. There is a conflict in this book as Theresa is not in most of it and another girl hits on Thomas. Theresa betrays Thomas very severely toward the ending of the book. I would like to know how things turn out in this respect. Personally, I would never hang out with Theresa again if I were Thomas, regardless of how sorry she claims to be.

I don't know if everyone got the cure for the disease called the Flare that everyone is supposed to have been purposely infected with. The promise was that they would all obtain the cure if they made it through the scorching hot area they were assigned to cross.

I would give this book a 7/10.

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Lots of description was used in this novel, which I enjoy. It took a while for me to get into this book. The description of Monsieur Bovary's childhood seemed to have little to do with the rest of the story, except to maybe make the reader feel sorry for the doctor when he is married to his cheating wife, Emma.

It's easy to sit back and judge the woman thinking she should smarten up and appreciate the steadiness and reliability of her husband, but I understand why she would act in this manner. It gets boring after a while in the normal every-day humdrum of life. I guess people need to work on their relationships always, or they go stale. Excitement and "life" can be looked for elsewhere.

It was painful watching Madame Bovary make such a fool out of herself. Both of the men she had an affair with didn't like her after they used her up. Her husband did like her. Emma also ruined her child's life in the end. The poor innocent child ended up losing both of her parents. Emma killed herself by poisoning herself with arsenic and her father died of a broken heart after finding out that Emma had cheated on him. The little daughter ended up having to live with strangers and be their servant because she was destitute because her mother spent all her families money and went into debt.

Very sad.

7/10.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

My overall impression of this book was that the story was mildly interesting enough that I bought the following three books in the series and I am about to read them. I found the writing had noticeable grammatical errors which made me question the book. I know the author may have been using the slang of the characters, but even when describing them he used it. Regardless, it didn't seem right. The main character was Thomas who ends up being somewhat of a leader of a group of boys who are feinding for themselves outside of the help they intermittently obtain from and elevator in the floor. There is a large maze that the boys try to find an opening to every day and the runners are assigned to run all day around the maze looking for a way out of their world. When Thomas first comes up in the elevator in the floor he is disoriented and alone with no memory of anyone from his past as is the way all the boys who arrived at the Glade (the place where they are living) get there. The first person Thomas forms a friendship with is Chuck. The relationship between Chuck and Thomas was charming and sweet. The book was so sci-fi that I almost didn't want to read it. I really enjoy Brave New World (dystopian) style books though, so the lure was still there for me despite the writing and the tendency toward sci-fi. 

The Maze Runner reminded me of The Hunger Games. In The Maze Runner there was a large fake world that the participants lived in and died in while an organized group of adults controlled everything that happened to them. 

I would give this book a 6/10.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Really good biography. I got a bit bored in the first half of the novel after Louis Zamperini joins the military and the minute descriptions of B-52s and how they fly etc. I don't care about it, but I liked the opening of the book about how Louis was as a child and how he fared in the Olympics.

For me the novel really picked up when he was lost at sea in the Pacific Ocean and as a POW. It was very violent though, and I can't stand reading about torture. Horrendous how he was starved and beaten repeatedly by the Bird and other Japanese captors.

I enjoyed how he maintained such a positive attitude in the end and I find his life inspirational. I think people would be better for reading this book. It teaches history that isn't taught in school and is important to know. It teaches the importance of forgiveness. It teaches the evils of war and the dark nature that lies within humans to inflict on others. I think it was great that the USA won over the Japanese in a huge way. I don;t like dominating anyone else, but I think freedom is extremely important. I am very impressed with the author. 9 3/4 out of ten.

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Horrible book. I was so entertained by Gone Girl that I wanted to read all of Gillian Flynn's novels. I'm done at this one. It was so dark and disgusting that I could barely make it through the book. Extremely negative circumstances overall. The very ending held out a bit of hope, but I would never want to read a book like this on purpose again. There is a lot of blood, gore, dysfunctional relationships, and general ugliness. The language is really bad and the darkest parts of peoples' personalities are revealed. Horrible book.

A woman named Libby who is in her early 30s had her family murdered by her brother. The true killer is researched by a reluctant Libby and I would say her brother isn't totally innocent. This portrayal is far beyond what a person would describe as trash. Sick book.

I would give it a 1/10.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Great book. Very well-written in how descriptive it is. I felt like I could understand how people in the book felt and I felt I understood what it was like in New York even though I've only ever been in the airport there. I didn't know Missouri was considered the Midwest though. I thought that was North Dakota and Minnesota, maybe Ohio.

The twists in this book were totally unpredictable by me. It was a bit much at the ending, but the rest of the book was so good, that's ok. The language obscene.

I would give this book a 9 3/4 out of ten. Excellently written, excellent story. I could understand the characters... Until they got really out of hand.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

I thought I never read this book before, and maybe I didn't, maybe I saw a movie of it, so the book was not surprising. I knew what was going to happen before I read it. It was OK. Sad. It was about a girl who was raped by a popular guy in school. No one believed her. At the ending of the book everyone did believe her. The book chronicles her day-to-day challenges in dealing with the effects of the rape. I would give this book a 71/2 out of ten.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

What a touching ending.  I read the last seven or so pages at work in the break room and I couldn't cry, otherwise I might have. My throat was all tight. I didn't like some of the thoughts and ideas about life and how to live, but I could understand it and I enjoyed the book overall.

Here's a bit of the story: A seventeen-year-old girl named Mia who gets in a car accident with her father driving and her mom in the passenger seat. Mia's brother Teddy is beside her in the car. Mia is seriously injured and in a comma, but she can see and hear everyone and walk around and view her body and all the people trying to save her life. Mia recounts episodes in her life and ends up having to make a decision of if she should die or stay on earth with her body. She gets to see everyone talking about her and hear what they think.

Mia's boyfriend Adam is one of the most important people in her life along with her mother, father, brother and friend Kim. I didn't like some of the language and ideas.

I would give this book an 8 1/2/10.

Paper Towns by John Green

This was a well-written book. I get a little bit irritated when people use classical literature or mythology in their writing and John Green used the former. I just feel like it's cheating. You're not actually using your story-telling skills, your trying to show how well-read you are, or you're using someone else to leverage your writing because you can't do it on your own. I guess society is so pervasive that it may be difficult to avoid doing this, but then I guess it will usually bother me then. I also don't really enjoy Walt Witman.

This boy called Quentin who is around seventeen and in his last year of school before he goes to university has a crush on a girl named Margo who goes missing and throughout the book he tries to find her. I think there's self-actualization going on as well.

What I really enjoy about John Green's writing are the witty little comments and banter between characters. It makes me really enjoy whatever is going on in the story he's writing about. I would give this book a 9/10.

Northanger Alibi by Jenni James

I found this book very predictable and unexciting. I read it because my daughter read it. She's seventeen. I'm 46, so perhaps that is why I found it very boring. I can't even describe it without making it sound stupid.  My daughter really enjoyed it though. I think, to make a long story short, the squealing about being kissed thing was portrayed too many times in the same story to be exciting. It was also not written in a way that engaged me nor was the story line captivating to me. My daughter enjoyed it though, as I mentioned. I'm pretty sure it is an age thing.

A seventeen-year-old rock star who is undercover as a normal person, falls in love instantly with a sixteen-year-old girl who has no idea who he is and treats him as if he's slightly weird and doesn't just find him gorgeous as does every other girl. The Sixteen-year-old girl, Claire, loves the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer and she thinks the rock star is actually a vampire.

Anyway, I wasn't into it at all. I'm sure though, this novel has it's place among teens. I would give it a 4/10.

Night Road by Kristin Hannah

This book was sort of interesting. At times it was verging on boring, but the basis story was good, but at times frustrating. Two young teens fell in love and a sister was the best friend of the girl. There was a drunk driving accident that changed everything. One of the teens underwent a large struggle which would ruin the lives of most people. I can't say much without ruining the story. One of the teens was very poor and her mother was a drug addict. The other two teens were twins of exceptionally wealthy parents. I would give this book a 7/10. It was too bland to be that enticing despite the good story line (for me anyway).

Son by Lois Lowry

Excellent book. I enjoyed the way this book tied in with The Giver by the same author. I also enjoyed the way the book was so unique and I also like dystopia books. I don't know why, and I'm not sure it's healthy to like society not working out, but I do!! The touching relationship between a mother and her son makes me happy to read. I would give this book a 9.5/10.

Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander. M.D.

Really boring. I believe in life after death and I believe there is a God, and I didn't really notice any glaring opposites of truth in this book, however, I thought it was really boring to read. Maybe it was written in a way that explained too much detail of the scientific background of what was happening to himself, but the neurosurgeon who wrote this book isn't into description of details regarding emotions well enough for me to become engaged in the book. The surgeon was in a comma for a week and survived what should have killed him or left him a vegetable. During his comma he experienced situations which he shouldn't have been able to medically experience therefore proving that there's life after death. He comes to terms with his adoption as well in this book. I would give this book a 2/10.

Extras by Scott Westerfeld

I thought this was the best book in the Ugly Series by Scott Westerfeld because the story was tidy and had a happy ending. Everyone ended up with a conclusion that was satisfactory to me. A Kicker (person who writes stories that get published online) named Aya Fuse sets forth to obtain popularity, which earn her merits in her society, which merits allow her to buy things like nice clothes, larger place to live, and any other luxuries she may want. This is how her society is organized, by popularity merits.

Tally Yongblood, a heroine from the previous three novels, plays a part in Ayas adventures by joining in towards the middle of the novel and saves Aya from dangerous situations which arose out of the popularity she gained from a story she "kicked" regarding people who she thinks may be aliens who are stealing metal from around the world. Aya thinks these people might be planning another war which could possibly end the world.

This young adult/teen science fiction novel was pretty good for me. I liked the clean writing and the interesting story line. Usually I am not that entertained by science fiction, but the Ugly series, including this book seemed to have been able to hold my attention. This was a good book. I would give it an 8/10.

Specials by Scott Westerfeld

For me, this book went too far. Tally, after fighting her way out of being a Bubbleheaded Pretty by just using her mind and not taking medication, undergoes another operation and becomes a Special where she has her brain medically altered once again undergoing BrainSurg (Brain surgery) along with radical body surgery where she is a lethal fighting machine thinking she's super special and more than most people. She ends up being disgusted by her old boyfriend because he is so weak and suffering from brain damage for taking the wrong pill whose nanos eat his brain away. She still loves him though and follows him through an attempted escape from the town in which they live.

As with all the books so far, I find myself being entertained by the story line and I keep on reading. As with all the novels, this book reminds me of Catching Fire a little bit, but this particular one reminds me the most of that novel as it is highly packed action.

I would give this a 6/10. I was turned off by the surgery she underwent.

Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

In this novel the Ugly, Tally Youngblood undergoes a radical operation becoming a Pretty, knowing that her brain is going to be altered be a Bubblehead, unable to concentrate on things and unable to recognize serious situations and react to them. She signed an informed consent at the end of the book, Uglies, giving permission for accepting the medication which is the cure for being a Bubblehead.  No one ever took this medication before.  Tally ends up sharing the medication with her boyfriend resulting in serious complications.

The novel progresses as Tally tries to overcome the operation.

I thought this was an interesting book overall. It was a Scifi book geared toward teenagers and young adults. I would give this book a 7/10.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

When I began reading this book I thought I wasn't going to finish it because it was so boring. The concept of a society based on people having to have surgery at 16 to make sure they are beautiful and all the same essentially was enough to entice me to stick it out. As I kept reading the novel became slightly more interesting, then slightly more, until it got to the point where I was engrossed in it. It's a pretty good story where Tally, an Ugly, who wants to be a Pretty and undergo the surgery at 16, finds out that your brain is altered in the process of making you pretty. Tally also experiences romance with a person named David,an Ugly who was never raised in the society where she grew up and thinks that Tally is beautiful the way she is. A rebellion against the society begins with Tally and David at the core. I would give this book geared for teens a 7 1/2 out of ten.

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

This novel was about a girl (Amelia) who was thought to have killed herself and her single mother (Kate), who is trying to find out the truth about her daughter's death.

Amelia goes to a private school that prepares children to enter Ivy League schools and within this school there is a gang that Amelia gets involved in only because she is attracted to a girl named Dylan. She ends up falling in love with Dylan whose best friend (Zadie) is the gang leader and hates Amelia. Amelia's best friend Sylvia is the only real friend that Amelia seems to have outside of a person named Ben who she has never met yet confides in through texting all the time.

This novel was hard and dark. There were no beautiful moments nor joy in it. I would not be excited about reading another Kimberly McCreight novel. There is nothing grammatically wrong that stood out to me or poorly written. I just didn't enjoy it personally very much, although I did enjoy it enough to read to the end.

6/10

Looking for Alaska by John Green

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The Sins of the Mother by Danielle Steele

I haven't read a Danielle Steele book in many many years besides one a couple of years ago.  I have her up when I read one about a clone that really turned me off back when I was around 23.  I'm almost 46 now.  The Sins of the Mother was lacking, but good enough to read.  I didn't find it a literary masterpiece or anything, but the story was mildly entertaining.  Reminds me of Nicolas Sparks.  I think Nicolas Sparks gets more into the details of sexual exploits, but Danielle Steel I think used to from what I can remember.  This novel glazes over those sections and leaves the rest to your imagination.  The swearing is toned down from what I remember of her as well.

A mother who worked really hard building one of the most successful businesses in the world wasn't there for her children while they were growing up and they are all resentful of her missing from their lives.  The mother, Olivia, is extremely wealthy and can afford anything and takes her family on amazing vacations once a year for two weeks.  The novel is about her children forgiving her and them all being one big happy family in the end.

I enjoyed the story of her oldest son Philip and his relationship to a cold-hearted and ambitious wife and how he ended up having an affair (which I don't agree with) and leaving her and ending his marriage. Philip was very angry when he found out his mother was fooling around with Peter, a co-worker/employee and he ended up doing the same thing.  I guess the entire story was not in enough detail and seemed glazed over in order to just pump out a story.  Good enough though, to fulfill most peoples' demand for entertainment I guess. I would have liked more development of character.

I would give this book a 6/10.

Will Grayson, meet Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

This book is about a teen boy and his homosexuality.  A large football playing teen named Tiny with wealthy parents and an unbelievable personality is a homosexual and always has brief love affairs.  He ends up dating a guy called Will Grayson which name also happens to be the same name as Tiny's best friend who is straight. The boyfriend Will Grayson also has depression and the story talks about how he feels having depression and how other people treat him when he has to deal with depression and they find out he takes medication for it.

Although this book, to me, is written really well with humor in spots which made me laugh, I would rather not read another one like it.  I would give this book a 5/10.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Too much swearing - taking the Lord's name in vain, F-bomb and not as good as The Fault in Our Stars. There was a scene of a girl riding a guy in a field completely naked, so if you want your teen to read about it, this book is for you.  I suppose it isn't as bad as a movie scene of it, but still. It was still pretty good though, and some parts were so funny I laughed out loud. The story was kind of flat for me in parts, but the book at the end was very satisfying as far as my tastes go.

I think John Green is a very good writer.  I really enjoy his style of writing and how I connect and understand what is written.  I understand all the references he makes and this enhances my understanding of what message I take from the book.  The math footnotes were interesting as well and I enjoyed reading the appendix explaining the math footnotes at the end.  If you can make math interesting, you've got talent! Daniel Biss wrote that part, but it was amusing as well, which I didn't expect coming from a math person.

I think the story was somewhat unrealistically optimistic, but, it's a story.  I don't know how many parents would let their children take a road trip to they don't know where and then stay at a total stranger's house for the entire summer, who just happens to be very wealthy and have a beautiful daughter who happens to be the same age as the self-proclaimed unpopular nerd teen boys who stop at her gas station to see the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria's grave in the middle of Gutshot Tennessee. But I didn't really care, because the novel was great and whose to say it's impossible to happen?  I found it interesting that Colin, the main character, was best friends with a Muslim person named Hassan. I enjoyed how the Muslim culture was brought into the novel in a nice way and how kind Hassan was.  Such a potent culture so violent in the news with such a kind person in the novel really enhanced the book's interesting factor. I would give this book an 8/10. Maybe a 7/10 because of the flat parts.  7 1/2/10.

The Fault in our Stars by John Green

I was impressed by the quality of writing in this novel and I was secretly ashamed of my own lack of skill compared to this author.  A sixteen year-old girl named Hazel has lung cancer and falls in love with a boy who has bone cancer.  The boy ends up using his Wish from Make a Wish or some organization like that to fulfill Hazel's wish to travel to the Netherlands to meet a reclusive author of one of her favorite novels and find out what happens to the characters in the novel's abrupt ending.
What really helped me enjoy the novel was the unexpected twists and original story-line.  It was very unique.  The traditional and normal reactions were dealt with regarding what one would expect when one is dying a slow and painful death of cancer, however, the twists in the story made it very original.  The humor was very well-placed and amusing. The pain the parents had to deal with and how the friends felt were covered adequately as well.  I would give this novel a 9 1/2 out of ten. Very enjoyable.  I hope I can write as well some day.  I'm already almost 46 though, so I don't know, but anything's possible!

Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

Although this book wasn't, for me, "...impossible to put down..." (Lost Angeles Times), I did find it interesting enough to read.  I think Piper Kerman's experience in jail was probably not like most people's experiences because of her race.  I think she may have had it easier.  It was still jail though, and it could have been worse if she had a horrible personality.  I think Piper's integrity and behavior played a large part in how her jail experience was regardless of race, but race helped I suppose.  I can't tell exactly, but she mentions in her memoir often that it did help.

I like how human and respectful she is to all the other inmates.  I've always thought that it was bizarre that people were all of a sudden treated as if they weren't human when they were in jail.  They are still human and they made mistakes, just like all of us.  I think she's right in that we need to change a lot regarding who goes to jail and how they are treated once there.  Someone who murdered someone else and crimes along those lines are different from fraud for example.  I enjoyed the book enough to read it and I am glad Piper is working toward helping people in prison.  I think I should help as well.  I think this book was worth the read. I don't like her hard left attitude (politically speaking) and I'd give this book a 6/10.

Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah

I don't know very much about China.  It seems like a very foreign country to me and a culture I cannot relate to.  My experience with it is very limited, however, I did read one book involving Chinese culture recently and this happens to be my second called Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah and is an autobiographical novel.  It was an interesting book and sad.  I felt horrible for Adeline as she was treated unbelievably badly by her Step-Mother and Father and the rest of her family.  She had pretty much no one and everyone she tried to love or be kind to was taken away from her on purpose so that she would continue to have no one and so that she would experience sadness in her life.  The Step-Mother was so unbelievably horrible I can't imagine it's real.  The family was so messed up I couldn't stand it. I guess though, a lot of families are like that and so is my own to a certain extent.  What a sweet little girl I had pictured in my mind when I saw the photos in the middle of the book.  It is so sad to read this story.  That family could easily have been very happy.  It is a good lesson to read this and stop anything we are doing wrong to each other in our own families and try to love each other the best we can with the best intentions.

A great deal of Chinese history is referred to in this book.  I did not know that people were mean to Chinese people just because they were Chinese.  This happened fairly recently and in Europe.  I guess I never really paid attention to it. I thought Chinese people were usually doing fine socially and were not discriminated against at all.  I think it helped me learn more about China and it's history reading this novel.  I also obtained an idea of what the Chinese culture is like from one person's opinion anyway.  I will have to read more books regarding China and pay attention to what it is like for Chinese people today.  I would give this book an 7/10.