Being Henry David by Cal Armistead

Being Henry David

Cal Armistead

 Page: 320

Published: March 1st, 2013 by Albert Whitman Teen

ISBN: 9780807506158

Good Reads Summary:
Seventeen-year-old "Hank" has found himself at Penn Station in New York City with no memory of anything --who he is, where he came from, why he's running away. His only possession is a worn copy of Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. And so he becomes Henry David-or "Hank" and takes first to the streets, and then to the only destination he can think of--Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Cal Armistead's remarkable debut novel is about a teen in search of himself. Hank begins to piece together recollections from his past. The only way Hank can discover his present is to face up to the realities of his grievous memories. He must come to terms with the tragedy of his past, to stop running, and to find his way home.

My Review:
I am a little rusty at reviewing, so bare with me while I get the formula up and going again.  I just wanted to say that I miss writing on here and I hopefully can stay motivated by wonderful Young Adult literature to do so.

I sat down yesterday evening not really sure what to read. I mean how does one follow up a book about demi-god like mermaids with attidued problems???

I guess they pick something in the complete opposite direction, and let me tell you  Being Henry David was just that. I loved this book, I engulfed in about two sittings.

I went into this book knowing nothing of Henry David Thoreau or of Walden. I learned about both. The author in fact motivated me into wanting to read Walden, something that I would never even consider.


The book starts at a nice stead pace, I mean after all you are instantly thrown into the head of a teenage boy in New York City with no memory. It could have gone horribly wrong, however Armistead approach it with such ease that she gently pulled the reader in before having the world explode with chaos.


Though this book had a few bumps and so nice plot twists, well more like gradual turns, I found it oddly compelling and unique for the teen genre. I felt that at times the main character was on autopilot, "Hank" moved through the motions of his new found life rather naturally, this part seemed a little bit of a push for me. I would have loved to seen "Hank" in at least one more location before finding his new home in Concord.

I give the book 4 out of 5. The action was there I was just left wanting at least 1 or 2 more weird run ins. 

Tuesday Top Picks

New Release

Tilt
Ellen Hopkins

Good Reads Summary:

 Three teens, three stories—all interconnected through their parents’ family relationships. As the adults pull away, caught up in their own dilemmas, the lives of the teens begin to tilt….


Mikayla, almost eighteen, is over-the-top in love with Dylan, who loves her back jealously. But what happens to that love when Mikayla gets pregnant the summer before their senior year—and decides to keep the baby?

Shane turns sixteen that same summer and falls hard in love with his first boyfriend, Alex, who happens to be HIV positive. Shane has lived for four years with his little sister’s impending death. Can he accept Alex’s love, knowing that his life, too, will be shortened?

Harley is fourteen—a good girl searching for new experiences, especially love from an older boy. She never expects to hurdle toward self-destructive extremes in order to define who she is and who she wants to be.

Love, in all its forms, has crucial consequences in this standalone novel.

New in Paperback

Juliet Immortal

Stacey Jay

Good Reads Summary:

 
The most tragic love story in history . . . 

Juliet Capulet didn't take her own life. She was murdered by the person she trusted most, her new husband, Romeo Montague, a sacrifice made to ensure his own immortality. But what Romeo didn't anticipate was that Juliet would be granted eternity, as well, and would become an agent for the Ambassadors of Light. For 700 years, she's fought Romeo for the souls of true lovers, struggling to preserve romantic love and the lives of the innocent. Until the day she meets someone she's forbidden to love, and Romeo, oh Romeo, will do everything in his power to destroy that love.
 

"These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume."
"--Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare

For more weekly release click here.

School

Sadly school has been taking up all of my time still... I am reading and reading still but very little time to write a review thus far. I am hoping to get one up first thing next week. I am sorry I have been skipping out on this. I enjoy reaching out to reads. Hopefully, stuff slows down and I can read for fun soon again!!!!

Tuesday Top Picks

New Release

Origin
Jessica Khoury

Good Reads Summary:

Pia has grown up in a secret laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon rain forest. She was raised by a team of scientists who have created her to be the start of a new immortal race. But on the night of her seventeenth birthday, Pia discovers a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her sterile home—and sneaks outside the compound for the first time in her life.

Free in the jungle, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Together, they embark on a race against time to discover the truth about Pia’s origin—a truth with deadly consequences that will change their lives forever.




Carnival of Souls
Melissa Marr

Good Reads Summary:

In a city of daimons, rigid class lines separate the powerful from the power-hungry. And at the heart of The City is the Carnival of Souls, where both murder and pleasure are offered up for sale. Once in a generation, the carnival hosts a deadly competition that allows every daimon a chance to join the ruling elite. Without the competition, Aya and Kaleb would both face bleak futures--if for different reasons. For each of them, fighting to the death is the only way to try to live.

All Mallory knows of The City is that her father--and every other witch there--fled it for a life in exile in the human world. Instead of a typical teenage life full of friends and maybe even a little romance, Mallory scans quiet streets for threats, hides herself away, and trains to be lethal. She knows it's only a matter of time until a daimon finds her and her father, so she readies herself for the inevitable. While Mallory possesses little knowledge of The City, every inhabitant of The City knows of her. There are plans for Mallory, and soon she, too, will be drawn into the decadence and danger that is the Carnival of Souls.

Oops

Seems like time has gotten the better of me, AKA school started. I needed a small break and am going to change some of the dates of posting Sunday selections are going to become Tuesdays, because well new books come on Tuesdays. I will post later about what came this week.

Sunday Selection

New Release

The Rise of Nine
Pittacus Lore

Good Reads Summary:

Until the day I met John Smith, Number Four, I'd been on the run alone, hiding and fighting to stay alive.

Together, we are much more powerful. But it could only last so long before we had to separate to find the others. . . .

I went to Spain to find Seven, and I found even more, including a tenth member of the Garde who escaped from Lorien alive. Ella is younger than the rest of us, but just as brave. Now we're looking for the others--including John.

But so are they.


Heaven
Alexandra Adornetto

Good Reads Summary:

Only sixteen when she started the series, Ally Adornetto knows how teen hearts beat, and this long-awaited conclusion is certain to be her most popular book yet.

Bethany, an angel sent to Earth, and her mortal boyfriend, Xavier, have been to Hell and back. But now their love will be put to its highest test yet, as they defy Heavenly law and marry. They don’t tell Beth’s archangel siblings, Gabriel and Ivy, but the angels know soon enough, and punishment comes in a terrifying form: the Sevens, who are rogue angels bent on keeping Beth and Xavier apart, destroying Gabriel and Ivy, and darkening angelic power in the heavens.

The only way Bethany and Xavier can elude the Sevens is to hide in the open, and blend in with other mortals their own age. Gabriel and Ivy set them up at college, where they can’t reveal their relationship, and where there is still danger around each corner. Will Bethany be called back to Heaven – forever – and face leaving the love of her life


New in Trade Paper/Reprint


The Girl of Fire and Thorns
Rae Carson

Good Reads Summary:

Elisa is the chosen one.
But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can't see how she ever will.
Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.
And he's not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people's savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.
Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.
Most of the chosen do.


More releases for this week here.

Monument 14

Monument 14
By: Emmy Laybourne
ISBN: 9780312569037
Length: 294 Pages
Reason:Barnes and Noble Book Club

 





Good Reads Summary:

Your mother hollers that you’re going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don’t stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don’t thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not—you launch yourself down the stairs and make a run for the corner.Only, if it’s the last time you’ll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you’d stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus.But the bus was barreling down our street, so I ran.Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong. 

Review: 

WHAT AN ENDING!!

I was pulled into this book not by it's cover but because of the subject matter. I mean who has not dreamed of being stuck in a superstore/department store when you were a child? I was shocked at how quickly I was pulled into this book. I never wanted to set it down. The book opens up on a sunny day in Monument, Colorado. However, that soon changes with the on set of a hailstorm, bus explosion, earthquake, and chemical warfare. All within the first four chapters!

Stuck inside Greenway(basically a Wal-mart/Target), 14 children from the age of 5-18 are fighting for survival. Though the characters tend to fall into stereotypes (Alex the brain, Astrid the popular girl, Dean the recluse, Jake the Jock, Braydon the Jerk, etc.) it is not extremely noticeable and very helpful for the reader. If it was not for there stereotypical traits I would have soon lost all sense of the children amongst the chaos and destruction. Each character reacts to the destruction in a different manner. Emmy did a fantastic job demonstrating how people in real life react in similar situations.

Emmy portrays fear in a very unique way for a young adult novel. She does not only make you afraid for the characters but for yourself as well. She does this by playing on those small everyday fears we all have. 

Sadly though no book is perfect, however I did only have a small issue with the book and I really only noticed it at after I finished. The children seemed almost to smart for their age. They always seemed to be on top of the trouble and ready for action, which lets face it any of us would be, but they seemed to have it way to under control. 

All the summaries I have read for this book say basically the same thing and sadly I can not talk much more about the book with out giving away it's secrets. I love this book and I cannot wait for the next one. Emmy did a fantastic job and has me as a fan for all of her writing!

GO GET THIS BOOK!!!!!!
Go NOW why are you still here?!?!?
Let me help you out Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

I give this a 5 out of 5

Recommendations: