03032012: In My Mailbox (9)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren

1Q84 Book 1 and 2:  The year is 1984. Aomame sits in a taxi on the expressway in Tokyo. Her work is not the kind which can be discussed in public but she is in a hurry to carry out an assignment and, with the traffic at a stand-still, the driver proposes a solution. She agrees, but as a result of her actions starts to feel increasingly detached from the real world. She has been on a top-secret mission, and her next job will lead her to encounter the apparently superhuman founder of a religious cult. Meanwhile, Tengo is leading a nondescript life but wishes to become a writer. He inadvertently becomes involved in a strange affair surrounding a literary prize to which a mysterious seventeen-year-old girl has submitted her remarkable first novel. It seems to be based on her own experiences and moves readers in unusual ways. Can her story really be true? Both Aomame and Tengo notice that the world has grown strange; both realise that they are indispensable to each other. While their stories influence one another, at times by accident and at times intentionally, the two come closer and closer to intertwining. 

Pretties:  Gorgeous. Popular. Perfect. Perfectly wrong. Tally has finally become pretty. Now her looks are beyond perfect, her clothes are awesome, her boyfriend is totally hot, and she's completely popular. It's everything she's ever wanted. But beneath all the fun -- the nonstop parties, the high-tech luxury, the total freedom -- is a nagging sense that something's wrong. Something important. Then a message from Tally's ugly past arrives. Reading it, Tally remembers what's wrong with pretty life, and the fun stops cold. Now she has to choose between fighting to forget what she knows and fighting for her life -- because the authorities don't intend to let anyone with this information survive. 

Specials:  Special Circumstances. Tally though they were a rumor, but now she's one of the them. A Special. A super-amped fighting machine, engineered to keep the uglies down and the pretties stupid. But maybe being perfectly programmed with strength and focus isn't better than anything she's ever known. Tally still has memories of something else.But it's easy for her to tune that out—until she's offered a chance to stamp out the rebels of the New Smoke permanently. It all comes down to one last choice: listen to that tiny, faint heartbeat, or carry out the mission she's programmed to complete. Either way, Tally's world will never be the same.

03032012: On My Wishlist (8)

On My Wishlist is a weekly meme hosted by Book Chick City

The Wheelman by Duane Swierczynski:  Meet Lennon, a mute Irish getaway driver who has fallen in with the wrong heist team on the wrong day at the wrong bank. Betrayed, his money stolen and his battered carcass left for dead, Lennon is on a one-way mission to find out who is responsible--and to get back his loot. But the robbery has sent a violent ripple effect through the streets of Philadelphia. And now a dirty cop, the Russian and Italian mobs, the mayor's hired gun, and a keyboard player in a college rock band maneuver for position as this adrenaline-fueled novel twists and turns its way toward its explosive conclusion. One thing's for sure: This cast of characters wakes up in a much different world by novel's end--if they wake up at all.

Looking for Alaska by John Green:  A deeply affecting coming-of-age story, Looking for Alaska traces the journey of Miles Halter, a misfit Florida teenager who leaves the safety of home for a boarding school in Alabama and a chance to explore the "Great Perhaps." Debut novelist and NPR commentator Green perfectly captures the intensity of feeling and despair that defines adolescence in this hip, shocking, and emotionally charged work of fiction. Miles has a quirky interest in famous people's last words, especially François Rabelais's final statement, "I go to seek a Great Perhaps." Determined not to wait for death to begin a similar quest, Miles convinces his parents to let him leave home. Once settled at Culver Creek Preparatory School, he befriends a couple of equally gifted outcasts: his roommate Chip―commonly known as the Colonel—who has a predilection for memorizing long, alphabetical lists for fun; and the beautiful and unpredictable Alaska, whom Miles comes to adore. The kids grow closer as they make their way through a school year filled with contraband, tests, pranks, breakups, and revelations about family and life. But as the story hurtles toward its shattering climax, chapter headings like "forty-six days before" and "the last day" portend a tragic event―one that will change Miles forever and lead him to new conclusions about the value of his cherished "Great Perhaps."

Caged in Darkness by J.D. Stroube: A witch raised in a cage of darkness... Savannah Cross was born into a life of isolation and abuse. As a child, she witnessed her parents perform acts of malevolent evil, and now feels permanently tainted by their dark deeds. When a coven discovers a tear stricken child, wounded on their elders lawn, they offer her a sanctuary she has never known. Savannah spends the next several years shattered, continuously looking over her shoulder, waiting for the darkness to claim her. On her 16th birthday, Savannah’s life takes a drastic turn. She is consumed by overwhelming power that forever alters her emotionally and physically. She must choose between two loves; the one who taught her to smile or the darkly seductive stranger who tempts her towards another path. Savannah must decide between the coven that was her haven and another one vying for her initiation. Just as Savannah begins to grasp what fate has in store for her, an evil looms over her loved ones; coming to claim an unbreakable debt. How will she survive the greatest evil she has ever witnessed… long enough to have a choice to make?

25022012: On My Wishlist (7)

On My Wishlist is a weekly meme hosted by Book Chick City

...Or Not to Be: A Collection of Suicide Notes:  The first book of its kind, . . . Or Not to Be offers rare insights into the lives--and deaths--of such luminaries as Vincent Van Gogh, Sylvia Plath, Diane Arbus, Jim Jones, Anne Sexton, Hermann Goering, Kurt Cobain, and Yukio Mishima, via their last letters and suicide notes. 

Scar Tissue: This "New York Times" bestseller by the lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers is a compelling story of the price of success and excess, dedication and debauchery, intrigue and integrity, and recklessness and redemption that could only come from the world of rock. 

Zodiac: Who was Zodiac? A serial killer who claimed 37 dead. A sexual sadist who taunted police with anonymous notes. A madman who was never apprehended. This is the first, complete account of Zodiac's reign of terror. Is he still out there?

11022012: On My Wishlist (6)

On My Wishlist is a weekly meme hosted by Book Chick City

Prozac Nation: A harrowing story of breakdowns, suicide attempts, drug therapy, and an eventual journey back to living, this poignant and often hilarious book gives voice to the high incidence of depression among America's youth. A collective cry for help from a generation who have come of age entrenched in the culture of divorce, economic instability, and AIDS, here is the intensely personal story of a young girl full of promise, whose mood swings have risen and fallen like the lines of a sad ballad.

Evolve: New Vampires have evolved, and they are coming for you! Kelly Armstrong, Tanya Huff and twenty-two other dark fantasy and horror writers come together to re-imagine the future of vampires in this new collection of all-original short fiction – one of the most unusual and original vampire anthologies ever assembled.

Memoirs of a Violent Sleeper: Steven suffers from an extremely rare and scary sleep disorder that causes sufferers to violently and physically act out their brain's dreams. Ever since his first bizarre, embarrassing occurrence at the age of seven, he has felt isolated and has cried out for love and acceptance from his family, all the while pushing them further and further away. His extreme fear of commitment and his anxiety, fuelled by this embarrassing disorder, sends him into a dangerous world of strippers, prostitutes, drugs, and alcohol. That is, until Gina walks into his life. With a cast of quirky characters, a satirical and funny look at society and beyond, Memoirs of a Violent Sleeper takes you through an extraordinary story of the darker side of love.