Reader Rayna

Month: April 2015

  • Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda Book Review

    simonvs

    Title: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
    Author: Becky Albertalli
    Publisher: Balzer + Bray – An imprint of HarperCollins
    Publication Date: April 7, 2015
    Genres: Young Adult – Contemporary
    Pages: 303
    Format: Purchased Hardcover

    “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda” by Becky Albertalli is about sixteen year old Simon and how he is not openly gay. With anyone. He’s been keeping this secret to himself for a while now and hasn’t found the courage (or the point) to tell anyone. But one day when a classmate winds up with screenshots of private emails Simon has with a secret guy code named Blue, things start to get a little more difficult.

    Now he has to find a way to not jeopardize his friendships, compromise himself, or ruin a shot at happiness with a guy who’s confusing, but oh so adorable.

    Why are these diverse books so freaking adorable? Like, seriously. I can’t take it. (Actually, I can and I want to.)

    When I first heard of this book I knew I had to get it because it had some great reviews from people I trust who had gotten the ARC copy and loved it.

    Well, now that I read it I can see why they loved it.

    I will admit it did take me about fifty or so pages to get used to the writing style, but once I was in it, I was hooked. This book was a great telling of a kid struggling with his sexual orientation – or rather, how to come out about it. It was a much more positive story than a lot of the negative ones that we hear all the time when teens come out to their parents, and I loved that. I loved reading a positive story because I think kids need that; they need positive reinforcement if they are struggling through something as monumental (and let’s be real, it is monumental) thing such as coming out to your family and friends, let alone the world.

    So let me talk about Simon. He’s a sixteen-going-on-seventeen year old junior in high school. He’s in the school’s fall play and is leading a total normal teenage life: friends, parties, chilling, hanging, family life. One big thing about him, though, is he’s gay. And he has this sort of relationship developing with this guy, Blue (code name), since August of that summer. He swears a lot and is kind of sarcastic at times, but I believe he’s an overall good kid. He makes mistakes (plenty of them), but he’s one of those characters you can’t help but love because of all of those flaws and all of his thoughts and how he acts and stuff.

    When he has a tough decision to make in terms of blackmail, I can understand the want to ignore it, but also the want to do something about it. I think Simon makes good decisions throughout the novel and he grows as a character. He goes from being so confused and conflicted, to dealing with a lot of crappy, to being pretty damn happy with himself.

    And his friends and family are no exception.

    I’m so happy to read of a family that supports Simon when he comes out to them. I thought that those parts of the book were kind of glazed over and really super fast, but the support was there. Often times it’s not. But everyone took it in stride (maybe some part of them knew?).

    Now Blue is kind of mysterious. He’s extremely shy and doesn’t want to give his identity away at all, no matter what. And he doesn’t want to meet Simon, necessarily, because he’s scared. I get that. A couple of times I was frustrated like, “Just meet the guy! Gosh!” But I understood he wanted privacy for now. He was afraid that once Simon found out who he was that Simon would push him away. But the two would flirt constantly and you could start to really see their flirtations grow and even their love for each other grow.

    And then when they do meet. COMMENCE THE SQUEAL SESSION. I literally squealed throughout the entire last fourth of the book, and let me tell you, SO. MUCH. CUTE.

    Okay, now that I got that off my chest.

    The plot of the book was one that I believe we see many times in contemporary books, but the way the author writes it and spins it is what makes it unique and defining. Obviously the most defining quality of this book is a not-so-openly gay teen. But I think the way that Albertalli wrote about the blackmail and just how everything kind of happened and exploded online and everything was a unique way of doing it. It was like a conscious stream of thought from Simon’s head, so the sentences were often short and straight to the point.

    Also, I thought it interesting that I had NO CLUE what Simon looked like until the last half of the book where we finally got some descriptions of him. And I think that stuck out to me so much because it hit me that it was so obvious that what he looked like hadn’t been mentioned earlier in the book because it wasn’t relevant – it was Simon’s point of view, so why would he just talk about his appearance for no reason?

    I loved the mystery surrounding Blue and who he was. I was surprised to find out who it was in the end, and was actually really happy for one major reason (which I won’t state here because it’s an obvious giveaway).

    I definitely think this was a great read. Not only a successful coming out story, but one with redemption and forgiveness on multiple characters’ parts, as well as friendship and just finding yourself in who you are. I highly recommend this to anyone, really.

    I rate this book 5/5 stars.

    Accompanying video: Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda Book Review

  • We Need Diverse Books

    We Need Diverse Books is a campaign to bring more diverse books to children’s and young adult’s shelves. More often than not books in these sections don’t deal with issues such as LGBQTAI+, gender identity, people of color, people with disabilities, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities.

    So much of a child/teen’s life is revolved around these issues, and many may not realize it. More and more we’re hearing stories about how a teen commits suicide because of feeling alone or intense bullying because of who they are/identify as. It’s sad and so preventable.

    I think one of the things that can possibly help these individuals is introducing more and more books of all age levels about dealing with these issues.

    If I had read books about gay/lesbian/bisexual/etc teens when I was growing up, maybe I would have understood more about my own struggles. Maybe I wouldn’t have struggled at all.

    Maybe it could have saved someone’s life.

    Books have such power in them. They can get people thinking and open their minds to so many possibilities out there if only they were willing to see them.

    For kids under the teen years it can teach them about race and cultures and how to be accepting and loving toward all of them, not just their own. It can teach them to be compassionate toward those who struggle under certain conditions. It can teach them about themselves and if they’re feeling the same way, then they can relate to it.

    Only recently have I picked up a few diverse books, at least what I consider to be diverse books, and I have already finished one (None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio) and it’s opened my eyes to the world of intersex individuals, people who are physically one gender on the outside, but have the other gender’s parts on the inside. It’s amazing and eye opening and really got me thinking on how little of the world I know.

    Is it important to incorporate more of these stories into children’s/young adult literature? Yes. Most definitely.

    Do I think people should be reading them, no matter their background, personal beliefs, bias, etc? Hell yes.

    I support We Need Diverse Books and I hope that more and more books will be published in the upcoming years of these diversities. We need them now more than ever.

  • None of the Above Book Review

    noneoftheabove

    Title: None of the Above
    Author: I.W. Gregorio
    Publisher: Balzer + Bray – an imprint of HarperCollins
    Publication Date: April 7, 2015
    Genres: Young Adult – Contemporary
    Pages: 352
    Format: Purchased Hardcover

    “None of the Above” by I.W. Gregorio is about a girl named Kristin who is a runner. She’s captain of her track team and is a hurdler – and she’s good at it. But one day when her and her boyfriend try to have sex and it’s less than pleasant, Kristin goes to an ob-gyn and discovers something about herself that she never would have imagined in her wildest dreams: she’s intersex. What’s this means is that her outward appearance is female while her insides resemble a male’s. Her world shatters after that in more ways than one. It’s a story about a girl of eighteen years who is trying to look at the prospects of her future midst a diagnosis that shakes her to the core and how she tries to cope with it and the phases of her coping.

    This story. This story. It was so beautiful and eye opening. I had never heard of intersex before I read this novel. As a way to read more diversely, I have opened up to the subject and let me tell you: this book has expanded my love for intersex and people going through gender identity issues more than I had expected.

    Let me first talk about some of the characters. Some spoilers to follow!

    Kristin Lattimer has never had her period before. She’s 18 and her aunt claims that she’s just a “late bloomer.” She’s thought it was just because of how active she is: as a runner she is both part of the outdoor and indoor teams and practically runs whenever she has the chance to. I’d definitely classify her as an introvert, only really comfortable with her close group of her friends and having her recharge time when she’s alone. When she finds out about how she is intersex, she is instantly horrified. I don’t blame her; if I heard news that I had something so radically different from what I believed to be true about me my whole life, I’d be mortified, too.

    She doesn’t handle the news particularly well at all. And when news spreads of her being a hermaphrodite (proper term is intersex) at school, she is instantly labeled a freak, her boyfriend breaks up with her, and she just feels her world crashing down. As an overall character, I felt she was very relatable to teens. I, too, have struggled with gender identity once or twice in my life (not to the degree many others have), but I have also dealt with sexual identity and coming to terms with it and coming out to those I’m closest to (I identify as bisexual).

    At times she was overly whiny or just too dramatic for my tastes, but I understood that she was going through an ordeal and couldn’t figure out just how to cope with it and how to really let it sink in that that was who she was. That was really the only flaw I had about this book.

    Vee and Faith are Kristin’s two best friends and they are pretty much polar opposites. Though this book deals mostly with Kristin’s thoughts and emotions, it does talk a bit about how the girls took the news of Kristin’s sex differently: where Vee compartmentalized it, Faith was more concerned about how Kristin was feeling and how others felt. I thought they played their parts in the story well and I was proud of them at the end.

    Sam is/was Kristin’s boyfriend and… well, I thought he’d be able to sit down and listen to her explain things, but that just didn’t happen. He had the raging hormones fit for a teen and the attitude of a driven guy. I didn’t really approve of him in the end.

    Darren, though his time was short in the novel, played a big role and I liked that he was in it. And oh so adorable. I’m glad that he was one of the few to not push Kristin away for her “condition” and accepted her as she is. Props, dude.

    Gwenyth, another intersex girl, became quick friends with Kristin and I loved a lot of the things she said (I highlighted them with little post-its). She was supportive and very open to listening to Kristin’s problems and dishing out her own advice from first hand experience.

    Now, as for the plot, I definitely thought it was unique. I had never heard of intersex until I read this novel and I thought it was well written as it took a journey through the mind of a teen and how she deals with such news. It was, at times, repetitive in terms of how Kristin reacted to certain things, but I also enjoyed the fact that whenever those kinds of situations came about that Kristin would then later reflect on it and decide for herself if it was a good or bad thing. It was definitely reminiscent of high school life and how teens can be so cruel to each other (don’t deny it, you know it’s true). I’m just glad there was some form of support in the book and she wasn’t completely alone in it.

    My overall thoughts are these: 1) this is a book everyone should read; 2) this opened my eyes to more conflicts of self that I never really knew existed [I did in some ways, not others]; and 3) my love for those suffering through gender identity issues has grown so much.

    I highly recommend this book and rate it 5/5 stars.

    Accompanying video: None of the Above Book Review

  • Top 5 Wednesday: Books You Wanted to Start Yesterday

    Welcome to another Top 5 Wednesday! Today’s T5W is all about books you wanted to start yesterday, and let me tell you, I have a lot. So I’m going to do my best to narrow it down to the top five I wanted to start forever and a day ago. These aren’t necessarily in a particular order for this week, but definitely books/series I wanted to start a long time ago but just haven’t.

    shadowandbones5. “Shadow and Bone” by Leigh Bardugo

    This trilogy has been floating around for a while now, and it sounds super intriguing and right up my alley for types of books that I enjoy reading, so this definitely makes the list. Action, adventure, darkness, fantasy, powers, romance… I mean, c’mon. I need to get on this bandwagon.

    thehungergames4. “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins

    Speaking of bandwagons, I’m probably one of the few readers out there that have yet to pick up this very popular book-to-movie trilogy. Seriously. I’ve seen all the movies thus far and have highly enjoyed them, but when I started to read the first book years ago when the first movie was coming out, I couldn’t get into it. Maybe that’ll change since I’ve been much bigger into reading this past year. Who knows?

    waterforelephants3. “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen

    This was also a book-to-movie adaptation that I really wanted to see and read. I started it and loved the writing, but I never got far into it. I think I was at a point in my life where I just was more stressed and worried about school than anything. Well, now that I don’t have school to worry about, I can pick up this book and see for myself if it deserved a movie or not (though I heard the movie was good, too).

    sabriel2. “Sabriel” by Garth Nix

    Old school YA fantasy that lead to many of my favorite books being published later down the line? Uh, yes. I needed to read this yesterday. I mean, I’ve never read Garth Nix before, but I’ve seen him being interviewed and he seems like a funny guy. Maybe that’ll transfer over to the book? I’ve heard it’s a really good fantasy series and I really want to get into it.

    clockworkangel1. “Clockwork Angel” by Cassandra Clare

    Okay, don’t slaughter me. No, I haven’t read the Infernal Devices trilogy yet. I haven’t even finished all six Mortal Instruments books. So, yeah, this definitely makes the list because I wanted to read it when it first came out, I just never got around to it. I’m a horrible person, really. I love Cassandra Clare’s writing, though, and the world around the Shadowhunters is amazing. I even hear that it’s better than TMI, so I definitely need to get on this bandwagon. Don’t worry, it’s a definite upcoming read.

    Accompanying video: T5W | Books You Should’ve Started Yesterday

  • Top Ten Tuesday: Characters You Want to Check In With

    Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday! Today’s topic is top ten characters you want to check in with, meaning characters that you love and how you imagine their lives are like after their story ends. I think it’ll become clearer once I start talking about some of the characters I want to check in on.

    1. Celeana Sardothian/Aelin Galathynius from the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas. Though this series isn’t over yet, I still would want to check in with her and ask how she felt when she discovered the truth about herself, did she love anyone or was she more focused on getting her kingdom back, and what did it feel like to be engulfed in flames. I think those are pretty solid questions, and even though they can be answered in the books, kind of, a think a direct, snarky response from her would be much more fitting.

    2. America and Maxon from the Selection series by Kiera Cass. Now I know that the series is continuing on in “The Heir,” but it’s going to be following their daughter, Eadlyn, so I want to know how their lives were for the first few years of their marriage. Did they fight often? What about Aspen and Lucy, how were they? Was America adjusting to being a royal, a queen? Maybe I’ll get some answers in the next book.

    3. Hazel Lancaster from “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green. Does the chemo work? Is she still alive? How does she feel with Augustus gone? Is she healing her heart? This one’s tougher because the character might have died before I got to ask these questions.

    4. Cath and Levi from “Fangirl” by Rainbow Rowell. Is Cath over her social anxiety? Does she still write fanfiction or is she done for good? Has Levi graduated? Found a job? Is life as much of a struggle after college for him and her as it has been for me? So much to relate to as a young adult.

    5. Jubilee and Flynn from “This Shattered World” by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. Are they still together? Has Avon become more inhabitable? Is there new technology on the planet that’s helping to fortify the lands? Does Jubilee miss being in the military? What are they both doing for jobs? Any wedding bells in the future? Any kids? They’d have cute babies, just saying.

    6. Pooh Bear from “Winnie-the-Pooh” by A.A. Milne. What happens to Pooh when Christopher Robin grows up? Has he been tossed aside? Or has he been saved for when Christopher Robin has his own children? I think it would be really sweet and sentimental if one day Christopher Robin discovers Pooh just sitting in a box and decides to give it to his own child.

    7. Eleanor and Park from “Eleanor & Park” by Rainbow Rowell. Did they date other people? Did they keep a long distance relationship? Where are they now? Do they remember each other? I hope they got back together in college or later on in life.

    8. Bella Swan-Cullen from “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer. Was it worth it to become a vampire? How are things going at home? Do you regret changing? How is Renesmee and all the family? Has anyone discovered your secret?

    9. Tobias from the Divergent series by Veronica Roth. How is life after the fact? Have you coped and gotten over what happened? Have you moved on?

    10. Clary and Jace from the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. How are things going in the Shadowhunter world? Do you guys have kids? What’s it like now that you two are older; do you reflect back on the times when you would constantly fight and thought you were siblings? Will you be my friend? Yes, I want them to be my friends.

    Who are some of your top characters that you would want to check in with after the events in the book? Let me know!