So the reading list is massive but I’ve been getting through a few this weekend. I’m hitting the key teen books I wanted to read to start with so:
The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson was great. I got it free for the library from the publisher which is always exciting but this book looked different from the usual run. For a start it was like a journal in look with a thicker jacket and elastic band keeping it closed. Inside there was found poems – made to look like written on trees and paper cups etc. So it looks very pretty for a start but the book is also really good. The main character’s sister just died and she’s trying to come to terms with that but love and lust make it all the harder. It’s touching, sweet and heartfelt – well worth reading.
Next was ‘The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian’ by Sherman Alexie. I came across this in the Red House catalogue it’s about a Native American boy who leaves the reservation school to go to the white school nearby. It was excellent and very frank, I really enjoyed it a lot and it gave a great understanding of the issues faced within that community just now.
Then I read ‘Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy’ By Ally Carter (second of The Gallagher Academy books) mostly because it is light and fluffy compared to the other two. I really enjoyed it and it was better than the first as I hoped it would be. Although you could read it on it’s own it assumes you have read the first book so there is limited background explanation.
Then I finished off ‘Weighing It Up’ by Ali Valenzuela this morning. This was a fascinating read it’s all about her battle with anorexia. It’s also curious because she is very intelligent, from a stable loving family and everything should be good. Despite this the mental illness not only appeared but took control. The way the anorexia makes her behave, the little things that it demands of her and they way that they combine in a subtle way at first or as she tries to recover. More worrying was that 20% of sufferers die either from starvation or suicide. Ali makes an important point that when some is 5 stone it’s so much harder than if it’s treated when they are a healthier weight often looking good to everyone else is when the mental symptoms are worst. Everyone should read this book.
