Letterbox Love #32

Letterbox Love came about after some drama with the American book haul memes, so the UKYA bloggers came together on Twitter to organise one of our own. Summaries are taken from the cover, or Amazon/NetGalley/Goodreads in the case of e-books, unless otherwise stated. Hosted by Narratively Speaking.

I’m back! I know it’s been a few weeks, but I moved and was too busy before to even pick up a book, let alone blog about them, and I didn’t have internet for a few days after we moved in. But all should be back to normal from here on out. Here are all the goodies I got while I was gone.

For review:

The Geography of You and Me, Jennifer E Smith (e-proof)

For fans of John Green, Stephanie Perkins and Sarah Ockler, The Geography of You and Me is a story for anyone who’s ever longed to meet someone special, for anyone who’s searched for home and found it where they least expected it.

Owen lives in the basement. Lucy lives on the 24^th floor. But when the power goes out in the midst of a New York heatwave, they find themselves together for the first time: stuck in a lift between the 10^th and 11^th floors. As they await help, they start talking...

The brief time they spend together leaves a mark. And as their lives take them to Edinburgh and San Francisco, to Prague and to Portland they can’t shake the memory of the time they shared. Postcards cross the globe when they themselves can’t, as Owen and Lucy experience the joy – and pain – of first love.

And as they make their separate journeys in search of home, they discover that sometimes it is a person rather than a place that anchors you most in the world.

Yay, a new Jen E Smith! Thanks NetGalley and Headline!

Grasshopper Jungle, Andrew Smith (paperback)

In the small town of Ealing, Iowa, Austin and his best friend Robby have accidentally unleashed an unstoppable army. An army of horny, hungry, six-foot-tall praying mantises that only want to do two things.

This is the truth. This is history.

It’s the end of the world.

And nobody knows anything about it.

Funny, intense, complex and brave, Grasshopper Jungle is a groundbreaking, genre-bending, coming-of-age stunner.

This just sounds so different! Thanks Electric Monkey!

Moranthology, Caitlin Moran (e-proof)

Britain’s most talented, award-winning and bestselling columnist collected here for the very first time.

Possibly the only drawback about the bestselling How to Be a Woman was that its author, Caitlin Moran, was limited to pretty much one subject: being a woman.

In Moranthology Caitlin gets ‘quite chatty’ about many subjects, including cultural, social and political issues which are usually left to hot-shot wonks and not a woman who sometimes keeps a falafel in her handbag. These other subjects include...

Caffeine І Ghostbusters І Being Poor І Twitter І Caravans І Obama І Wales І Paul McCartney І The Welfare State І Sherlock І David Cameron Looking Like Ham І Amy Winehouse І ‘The Big Society’ І Big Hair І Nutter-letters І Michael Jackson’s funeral І Failed Nicknames І Wolverhampton І Squirrels’ Testicles І Sexy Tax І Binge-drinking І Chivalry І Rhianna’s Cardigan І Party Bags І Hot People І Transsexuals І The Gay Moon Landings

I really enjoyed How to be a Woman so I snapped this straight up when I saw it on NetGalley. Thanks Ebury!

Echo Boy, Matt Haig (e-proof)

The moving, gripping and stunningly written first novel for young adults by award-winning author, Matt Haig.

Audrey’s father taught her that to stay human in the modern world, she had to build a moat around herself; a moat of books and music, philosophy and dreams. A moat that makes Audrey different from the echoes: sophisticated, emotionaless machines, built to resemble humans and to work for human masters.

Daniel is an echo – but he’s not like the others. He feels a connection with Audrey; a feeling Daniel knows he was never designed to have, and cannot explain. And when Audrey is placed in terrible danger, he’s determined to save her.

Echo Boy is a powerful story about love, loss and what makes us human.

Yay! I adored The Humans so I’m super excited for this. Thanks NetGalley and RHCP!

Bought:

This Star Won’t Go out, Ester Earl with Lori and Wayne Earl (hardcover)

Diagnosed with thyroid cancer at age twelve, Esther (Persian for “Star”) Earl was an exceptionally bright and talented – but very normal – teenager. She lived a hope-filled and generous, outwardly focused life as she navigated her physical decline with grace. A cheerful, positive, and encouraging daughter, sister, and friend, Esther died in 2010, shortly after turning sixteen, but not before inspiring thousands through her growing online presence.

This unique memoir collects Esther’s journals, fictions, letters, and sketches. Photographs and essays by family and friends help to tell Esther’s story, along with an introduction by award-winning author John Green who dedicated his #1 international bestseller The Fault in Our Stars to her.

This is going to make me bawl like a baby, but I really, really want to read it...

Sophie

Author Interview: Trish Doller

I recently fell in love with Something Like Normal after reading it on a whim and followed it up with Where the Stars Still Shine almost immediately. I found a new favourite author and wanted to ask her a few questions...

1. Both Callie and Alex and everyone in their lives are so rounded and realistic. Do you write detailed histories and information about them or do you just let them develop as you write?

I think about my characters for a long time before (and during) writing, but I don’t write out detailed histories for them. I get to know them as I’m writing them and kind of let them tell me about themselves. Sometimes they turn out different than I expected.

2. I found the focus of a ‘normal life’ in both your novels a really interesting topic to explore. What about that subject attracted you strongly enough to include it in two novels?

Focusing on normal was just happenstance, really. I didn’t set out to write two books where the characters are trying to learn what normal means, but in both cases I was very interested in the “after” and how Callie and Travis handle it. I’ve joked that my “thing” as a writer is trauma and recovery, but maybe it’s not so much a joke. I’m interested in seeing how characters – how people – respond to the bad things life throws at them.

3. What were your favourite scenes of both Something Like Normal and Where the Stars Still Shine to write?

My favourite scene to write in Where the Stars Still Shine was one in which Callie is paying farm animals with her little brother, Joe. It’s such a small scene, but it’s adorable and I think it’s one of those moments when you see Callie wanting to fit in, but not wanting her family to know.

And my favourite scene in Something Like Normal is the one in which Travis is remembering Charlie’s story of how he came to join the Marines. It gives us a peek at Charlie and it’s such a funny story that even now it makes me laugh.

A few quick ones!

4. Favourite story world?

Narnia.

5. Favourite era of history?

Civil War (although not so much the war itself as the stories)

6. Current read?

This Dark Road to Mercy by Wiley Cash.

Thanks so much Trish! You should all go and read Something Like Normal and Where the Stars Still Shine if you haven’t already while we suffer the long wait for her third novel, Arcadia Falls.

Sophie

The Dark Inside - Rupert Wallis

Pages: 360

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Release Date: 30^th January 2014

Edition: UK proof, review copy

“I’m not a bad person. But I’m not who I used to be, either...”

When thirteen-year-old James discovers a homeless man in an abandoned house, the course of his life changes dramatically. Hoping to find a ‘cure’ for a dark curse inflicted on the man, the pair embark on a journey together not knowing that what they discover will impact them both in ways they never imagined...

A gripping and haunting story about loss and hope from a talented debut author. Perfect for fans of Patrick Ness and David Almond. 

The Dark Inside is a gripping and atmospheric debut from Rupert Wallis. I was intrigued from the first page to the last.

Not even three hundred and sixty pages of Rupert Wallis’ writing made me less in love with it. He has a grainy, dark and haunting about his prose that carries through every sentence that also has an undeniable quality to it. It’s gorgeous. It really suited the sense of a quest for James and Webster and the ambiguity of what they were searching for – physically and metaphorically, especially when questions of God and the afterlife came into the forefront.

So many intriguing topics were brought under a vague and roving spotlight in The Dark Inside, and yet not a single one was preachy, in your face or dominating in any way. Each topic contributed to questions of good and evil, what makes you human, forgiveness and all that jazz in a way that bridged the normal between contemporary, psychological thriller and paranormal, but it never sunk into one category which I liked. But most off all I loved how nothing was black and white; it’s all grey.

 The villains being seen as people rather than objects and plot devices was refreshing. I loved watching the relationship between Billy and his ma unfold. They weren’t doing evil things for evil purposes, they were doing them to save themselves, to help each other, to prove themselves. It made them real and added a dimension to the story that isn’t usually present. I really enjoyed it.

Though it sometimes took me a while to get back into the story, The Dark Inside is a beautifully written debut and I think that Rupert Wallis has a strong future ahead of him.

Huge thanks to S&S for sending me a copy for review! Make sure to keep an eye out for my stop on the blog tour next week!

Sophie

2014 Reading Goals

I failed miserably in linking m 2013 reading challenges and taking part in the talks etc, so I’m not going to officially take part in any this year. Instead I have a list of reading goals for 2014 that I’ll report back on at the end of the year. Here they are:

- Catch up on some of the awesome MG series’ I’ve missed (eg. Skulduggery Pleasant, Eragon, Percy Jackson, A Series of Unfortunate Events, finish His Dark Materials and Artemis Fowl, The Princess Diaries).

- Read more classics. I did better last year than ever before, but I want to rock it this year!

- Read more of the books that I buy. Books purchased myself seem to end up languishing on the bookcase in favour of review copies to soothe my guilt. No more.

- Complete at least five series’ I’ve fallen behind on (eg. The Enemy, Hush, Hush, Gone, Leviathan, Kane Chronicles, Caster Chronicles, The Demon’s Lexicon, Numbers, The Maze Runner – I have a few to choose from!).

- Read 125 books as per last year’s Goodreads challenge.

- Read what I want to read when I want to read it.

- Read The Lord of the Rings. I know; quite a challenge.

- Re-read Harry Potter - it's been far, far too long. 

- Take the pressure off reading and blogging and ENJOY IT!

What reading goals do you guys have for 2014? Are you taking part in and challenges? Got any MG series and classics you think I should read? Which series should I finish first?

Sophie

It's my fifth blogoversary! GIVEAWAY CLOSED

I can’t believe I’m even typing these words, but today is my fifth blogoversary. FIFTH. I just...wow.

I’m incredibly proud of what I’ve built here and my love, respect and appreciation for the YA blogging community – bloggers, readers, authors, publishers – only continues to grow. I never imagined I’d make it this long, but now So Many Books, So Little Time and all of you guys are such a huge part of my life that I can’t imagine not continuing for the next five years!

So to say thank you and share the love, I’m giving away a £15 Amazon UK/The Book Depository gift card/money to spend and it’s INTERNATIONAL! Entries close 6pm GMT on February 5^th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

EDIT: the winner has now been drawn and contacted. 

Sophie