Book: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

by Jonathan Safran Foer

Length: 368

Format: eBook
Price: Downloaded from Overdrive

How I heard about it: It's on my list.

Basic Premise: Nine-year-old Oskar lost his father last year in the 9/11 terrorist attack, but as he is going through his father's closet one day, he discovers an envelope and an unmarked key. Believing them to be part of a last message from his father, Oskar launches a search for his father's last secret.

My Take: 6 out of 10 (scale here)

This story is told mostly from Oskar in a first-person narrative, but there are bits scattered throughout which are told by his grandmother and grandfather, but you don't realize who they are or how their stories connect until later in the book. Although this can often be an effective story-telling tool, I wasn't a fan of that particular approach with this particular story. One of the reasons was that one of the characters was so fundamentally un-likeable. Another was because it tended to complicate things rather than clarify, which was obviously intentional, but it didn't really work for me. However, the primary storyteller, Oskar, was highly entertaining. He has an extremely brilliant mind but lacks certain basic social skills, such as the ability to determine whether something he thinks is appropriate to say out loud. It made for many amusing moments. It also made Oskar incredibly endearing. I also loved how his two favorite adjectives were "extremely" and "incredibly." The story was heartfelt and, although I won't be looking up other books by this author, I did enjoy this one.

List Progress:

1. I Am Malala by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
3. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
4. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
5. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
6. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
7. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
8.  Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah review here
9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Timeby Mark Haddon
10. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (read before I started blogging)
11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
12. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
13. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (read before I started blogging)
14. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
15. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer 
16. Bossypants by Tina Fey
17. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
18. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (read before I started blogging)
19. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (read before I started blogging)
20. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen *abandoned*
21. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell review here
22. She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
23. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - can we have a moment for whoever created this list? "Harry Potter" is not a book. It's a series of books. Sheesh.
24. Looking for Alaska by John Green review here
25. The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak review here
26. The Kite Runner by Khaled Housseini review here

Audio Book: Thirteen Reasons Why

Thirteen Reasons Why

by Jay Asher

Length: 6 hours, 24 minutes

Format: Audiobook
Price: Downloaded from Overdrive

How I heard about it: My girls have been reading this book right and left. It's also on my list.

Basic Premise: Clay Jensen receives an anonymous set of 7 cassette tapes in the mail. Amused (who listens to cassettes anymore?), he pops the first one in his dad's old stereo and discovers the tapes are the final thoughts of Hannah Baker, who killed herself two weeks ago. Each side of the tape includes a name - a reason why.

My Take: 8 out of 10 (scale here)
It's hard to say I liked this book, given the dark and gut-wrenching nature of the subject matter. It was well-written and formatted. Each side of the tape contained the name and story of one person whose interactions with her contributed to her decision to end her life. In most cases, people had done really terrible things to her. But a few of them were positive interactions, and for whatever reason, they weren't enough for Hannah to keep from giving up. It was an incredibly eye-opening story about what can happen when people feel beaten down, overlooked, and as if they have no way out. Several students popped into my mind at various points in the story, as did kids I went to high school with. It was a good book, but hard.

List Progress:

1. I Am Malala by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
3. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
4. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
5. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
6. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
7. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
8.  Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah review here
9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Timeby Mark Haddon
10. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (read before I started blogging)
11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
12. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
13. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (read before I started blogging)
14. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
15. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
16. Bossypants by Tina Fey
17. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
18. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (read before I started blogging)
19. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (read before I started blogging)
20. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen *abandoned*
21. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell review here
22. She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
23. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - can we have a moment for whoever created this list? "Harry Potter" is not a book. It's a series of books. Sheesh.
24. Looking for Alaska by John Green review here
25. The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak review here
26. The Kite Runner by Khaled Housseini review here

Book: Does My Head Look Big in This?

Does My Head Look Big in This?

by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Length: 368 pages

Format: Hardback
Price: Checked out from the library

How I heard about it: I've heard of it before (I think first at my young adult literature conference and next in my school library). It's also on my list.

Basic Premise: Sixteen-year-old Amal has done a splendid job of fitting in at her prep school in Melbourne, Australia. That is, until she decides to ¨go full-time¨ and wear the hijab as a token of her Islamic faith. 

My Take: 5 out of 10 (scale here)
If I hadn't read it on the heels of I am Malala, I probably would have liked it better. As it was, this story felt petty and superficial. After all, when you read a book about a girl who was shot in the head for what she believed, it's hard to have the same kind of sympathy for a girl who gets strange looks and curious questions for wearing a head covering. There was little to no explanation of why Amal felt compelled to wear the head covering, other than calling it a badge of her faith. I would have liked to know why she wore it. Does it say to in the Koran? Is it so others will identify her as a Muslim? Is it an issue of modesty? (That's what I always thought.) I still have no idea. What I did appreciate about this book was a broader understanding of the challenges that Muslims face in the Western world. And, given recent events, the timing couldn't be better.

List Progress:

1. I Am Malala by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
3. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
4. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
5. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
6. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
7. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
8.  Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah
9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Timeby Mark Haddon
10. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (read before I started blogging)
11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
12. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
13. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (read before I started blogging)
14. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
15. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
16. Bossypants by Tina Fey
17. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
18. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (read before I started blogging)
19. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (read before I started blogging)
20. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen *abandoned*
21. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell review here
22. She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
23. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - can we have a moment for whoever created this list? "Harry Potter" is not a book. It's a series of books. Sheesh.
24. Looking for Alaska by John Green review here
25. The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak review here
26. The Kite Runner by Khaled Housseini review here