the eclectic authoress recommends...

50. Unspoken, by Sarah Rees Brennan

Unspoken is the first in the Lynburn Legacy trilogy, followed by Untold and Unmade. It's about the secrets of a sleepy English town, the tropes of Gothic novels, a teen investigative reporter, and two people who can talk to each other in their heads. The characters are funny and fully developed, and I fell in love with each and every one of them (except for the one or two I hate). The relationship between Kami, the protagonist, and Jared, the boy in her head, is agonizing and beautiful. I would recommend Unspoken to anyone, anywhere, without hesitated-- it is storytelling as its finest, with themes pulled from long-ago novels slipping naturally into the present time.                                                

the eclectic authoress recommends...

49. Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

Dead Welsh kings, raven boys, school crests, Latin classes, a house full of psychics, a 1973 Camaro, street racing, caves, a magical forest that moves, missing mothers, friendly hit men, and a girl who makes "energy" stronger-- this is Maggie Stiefvater's series. Blue Lily, Lily Blue is the third book, preceded by The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves, both of which are stunning. Delve into the world of fast cars and sleeping kings for a few hours--it will most definitely be worth it.

the eclectic authoress recommends...

48. 1776, by David McCullough

I absolutely love history, so when I found out 1776 was required reading for one of my classes, I wasn't perturbed in the slightest. As I read it, I found my expectations were met with flying colors. A wonderfully written, painstakingly researched project, 1776 is the book all histories aspire to be.

have I become a library?

Now that summer has finally arrived, I've been able to do a lot more reading. Books are some of my favorite things, and (of course) I love to talk about them. Here are a few my most recent reads, and my recommendations.

We Were Liars, by E. Lockhart

Saying too much about We Were Liars would be devastating- this is really one of those novels that is best to go into without presuppositions. The plot is something that needs to be realizes as it's read. There is a rich, rich family, a group of four friends, a summer island, and a secret. I was on the edge of my metaphorical seat throughout my reading of it. (Also, there might have been tears.) We Were Liars is a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful book- I recommend it to absolutely everyone.

A Voice in the Wind, by Francine Rivers

This novel certainly exceeded my expectations. It is part of a series, but this is (so far) the only novel of three I have finished reading. A Voice in the Wind is set in long-ago Rome, when the empire has practically destroyed Jerusalem and the gladiator games are the peak of societal outings. The novel follows a large cast of characters, including the Jewish slave Hadassah, who is trying to hide her Christian faith in Rome, Marcus, her master's ill behaved son, Julia, his little sister- quickly following in his footsteps, and Atretes, a German warrior turned gladiator. Incredibly interesting and unexpectedly developed, Rivers certainly weaves a wonderful story.

13 Little Blue Envelopes, by Maureen Johnson

This Young Adult novel gives wanderlust a new name. Ginny (our protagonist) has an artist aunt who's always doing unexpected things- like a few years ago, when she practically disappeared. Or, rather, Ginny had an aunt; Peg passed away while living in London. All Ginny has left of Peg is a series of letters, held in- as the title illustrates- thirteen blue envelopes. These letters send Ginny all over the world, to Paris, to Rome, to Amsterdam, and always to a new adventure. The absolute best part of this novel is the places- reading about backpacking in Europe creates a definite want to travel.

the eclectic authoress recommends...

46. "Cry, the Beloved Country", by Alan Paton is a heartrending story of South Africa, set only a few years before apartheid. It follows Stephen Kumalo, a Zulu pastor who travels to Johannesburg in search of his family. Written with excellent prose and the dialogue style of Steinbeck, Paton' work is certainly deserved of many honors.

the realms of your imagination

I have recently discovered a new book series, and so devoured it in three days (one per book). This particular series is written by Libba Bray, and follows our heroine through the late nineteenth century. Yes, this is the "Gemma Doyle" trilogy, headed by A Great and Terrible Beauty. It made the New York Times bestseller list, but I did not discover it complexities until a few days ago. Since then, I have become completely enamored. The series follows Gemma Doyle, whose life changes drastically after her mother dies of "cholera". (It isn't cholera.) She moves from India to a strict English boarding school, where she begins to discover that the strange visions she experiences are not her going crazy after all. With the historical element, humor, great drama, and a particular nice looking boy, Libba Bray's trilogy certainly has everything one could wish for. Once you add the spectacular writing style she most definitely has, the series becomes perfect. These are books you will live in for days after you finish them, and they will be swimming around your head and your heart for months to come.

3 2 1 takeoff

This week is spring break, and I will, thank goodness, be traveling to warmer places in the country! A lot of bloggers do packing lists and how-to's, and though I thought about it, I'm really not very skilled at making everything fit. Instead, I'll tell you all about something I do know about: books!
Every journey or vacation needs time-fillers. I'm flying to my destination, but if you're able to read in the car as I am, this works for road trips as well. Books are the absolute first things I think about bringing on my trips, and I read not only in the traveling, but also while I am on vacation. Here are some of my save-for-vacation books!

1. Rose Under Fire, by Elizabeth Wein. This is the companion novel to Code Name Verity, which I wrote about here. Code Name Verity is one of my favorite books, and Rose Under Fire picks up close to where it ends. Though the protagonists of Code Name Verity are not the main characters of its companion, it looks as though some of the characters will appear again. I am incredibly, incredibly excited to read this novel, and its companion has certainly given me high expectations.

2. Rose: My Life in Service to Lady Astor, by Rosina Harrison. I'll admit it: I saw this nonfiction work on the "If You Like Downton Abbey" table at my local bookshop a few months ago. When I returned, Barnes & Noble gift card in hand, it had been moved. I then went on a quest to find it, eventually having to ask (horror of horrors!) for assistance. I have begun it, and the incredible tales of aristocracy are certainly worth any trouble the relocation might have caused.

3. The Tragedy Paper, by Elizabeth Laban. This novel is one of a prestigious boarding school, first love, and a story within a story. I have been told hints and glimpses by various reviews, and have been hearing things- good things- about it for months. I finally own it, and have splurged for hardback, as that was the only way to get the beautiful, earlier cover.

4. Mary Poppins, She Wrote: the Life of P. L. Travers, by Valerie Lawson. Mary Poppins was my favorite film for a number of years. It was, as people say, "my childhood"; I would watch it over and over, would dress up and dance along to the music. I knew all of the songs, and was enamored with each and every scene, be it the semi-animated fox hunt or the somber, more metaphoric "Feed the Birds". As soon as I saw Mary Poppins on the cover, I knew I had to own this gem of a biography. 

the eclectic authoress recommends...

44. The Saturdays, by Elizabeth Enright, is one of my favorite books from childhood. It's about a family of four children in twentieth century New York, and all of their wonderful adventures. I always feel very nostalgic about it, and find that rereading it every now and then is a wonderful pick-me-up. It also has beautiful, sporadic illustration.

unhappy families

"All happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

There are many unhappy families in Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, a wonderful, wonderful novel with I have been reading for over a month now. Usually, I am a fast reader. There are many books I have sat down with, and have not stood up until I had finished reading it. Anna Karenina, however, is- as I've said before- a process. It is beautiful and a lengthy near eight hundred pages. It catalogs several groups of characters, all who intertwine.

For example, the novel does not begin with the title character. It begins with Stepan "Stiva" Oblonsky and his wife, Dolly. He is having an affair, and this is where the unhappiness begins. He is the brother of Anna, and she comes to fix the problem.

However, when Anna starts to have her own troubles, everyone around her begins to have troubles as well. By the end of the novel, Stiva and Dolly's marriage has completely fallen apart. Kitty, Dolly's sister, is rejected by Vronsky, who becomes Anna's paramour  instead. Anna's husband becomes controlled by a woman who tells his son that Anna is dead.

Tolstoy, I have found, is a genius of the written word. There is so much in Anna Karenina that at first caused me to wonder about it inclusion, but by the end, everything comes together. It is not neat or tied with a bow, and it is not happy.

But Tolstoy certainly shows his readers the differences in unhappy families.

A One-Sitting Read

I am always looking for new books to read, and so, being that it's right after Christmas (though really, I don't need and excuse), I decided to head to "Barnes & Nobles". And, while I was perusing the shelves, I found this absolute gem of a novel: Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein.

Now, I have known of the existence of Code Name Verity for many months. I've seen in publicized on writing websites and reviewed on blogs. Though I never looked very closely, all of these sources seemed to have loved the book. I, however, started to read Anna Karenina- which, as Tolstoy lovers know, is a process. But a few days ago, I set out to the bookstore, armed with a gift card, and saw Code Name Verity on the shelf. I remembered the blogs and websites that had recommended it, and decided to give it a chance.

I began reading this afternoon, and finished in one sitting.

To begin, Code Name Verity is historical fiction. This is always a huge plus for me, as I so admire authors who put in such time and effort to meticulously reconstruct another time or setting. Also, Wein weaves the history and fiction together beautifully; she does not throw the history in the readers face, saying, "Look! I researched this! This is the exact type of shoe twenty year old working women would wear in the 1940s!" Instead, she weaves the two topics seamlessly together, recreating the World War II setting she has chosen.

But though Wein is writing about World War II, she does not focus on the evils of Germany at the time; instead, she chooses individual people to be her villains. Also, this is not a war book; it is not All Quiet on the Western Front. It is a book about people who are in a war. There is a war on. And there are spies, and airplanes, and secrets. But there are also best friends, and making the hard choices.

Code Name Verity is, in short, the best book I have read in quite a long time. It is heartfelt and emotional. It is well written, with wonderful narrative voice for each of its characters. It's plot is complex and intriguing, twisting and turning down beautifully foreshadowed alleys.

Wein has created a new world between two paper covers.

A Few Good Things

1. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, is a fantastic book-turned-movie narrated by Death itself at the dawn of WWII. There are so many perfect quotes from the novel, I simply couldn't pick just one to share.

"I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right."

"If only she could be so oblivious again, to feel such love without knowing it, mistaking it for laughter."

And, finally:

"Humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die.”
While I was not certain how it would translate into film, the director- Brian Percival- does a splendid job. There are a plethora of direct quotes, and it is a stunning piece of art and literature in film.

And a few songs:

2. "People Help the People", by Birdy.

3. "Glory and Gore", by Lorde.

These Books Should Be Read

Classics:
Peter Pan, by J.M. Barrie
A Company of Swans, by Eva Ibbotson
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë
Emma, by Jane Austen

Dystopian:
Article Five, by Kristen Simmons
Enclave, by Ann Aguirre
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
After, a collection of apocalyptic short stories
Wither, by Lauren DeStefano

General:
The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke
Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor
Beautiful Days, by Anna Godberson
And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie

Historical:
The Season, by Sarah Maclean
The Twin's Daughter, by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
All of A Kind Family, by Sydney Taylor
My Mother the Cheerleader, by Robert Sharenow
Boston Jane, by Jennifer Holm

Science Fiction/Fantasy:
The Lost World, by Michael Crichton Wings,
Wings, by Aprylinne Pike
Eve and Adam, by Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate
I Am Number Four, by P. Lore
The Thief Lord, by Cornelia Funke

Children's:
Wings, by E.D. Baker
Half Upon a Time, by James Riley
Surprise Island, by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Twice Upon a Time, by James Riley
Between the Lines, by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer

Scripts:
The Thirty Nine Steps, by Patrick Barlow
Our Town, by Thornton Wilder
Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare

The Age of the Morning

Tonight, the eclectic authoress will find herself on a bus trip that might last until two in the morning. She understands that her dear readers might find themselves in a similar situation one day, and has decided to grant advice.
1. Bring music
This may be your only way to sleep. If you are unable to decide which music to bring, please visit my post "A Recommendation". It has quite a large range.
2. Sleep
Bring a sleep mask, and a music device. And, possibly, a blanket.
3. Watch movies.
If your bus is the type to have televisions, do bring a film or two. I suggest classics like "Finding Nemo", "Toy Story", and "The Princess Diaries". While possibly unacceptable for any other setting, they are most definitely bus trip movies.
4. Read
I'd suggest either something huge that people will be too scared to ask you about, like Jane Eyre, or something fluffy that you can half concentrate on and still talk with those around you.
5. Play cards
Perhaps KEMPS? That's a very good road trip game.
With ever so much love, the eclectic authoress herself.

A Perfectly Reasonable Statement

For I could not bring myself to survive in a land like Fahrenheit 451's, and certainly would have been burned for contraband material.

A Few Reading Suggestions

Library Stairs