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Carli in Our Home Garden

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Click HERE to participate in Wordless Wednesdays.

My Girls

If you have participated in Wordless Wednesday on your blog, please fill out the link collection below.

Hungry for More?

It is a shame that many people wait until there is a movie coming out before they give a book a chance. When The Hunger Games (movie) came out, I knew it would be a huge hit in the book blogging circuit (and big time readers who do not blog) but I wasn’t fully prepared for the amount of friends who suddenly decided to start The Hunger Games (novel) simply because the movie was coming to theaters.

Unsurprisingly, though, mostly everyone that I know loved the book and truly wanted more.  The good news is — there are more books like The Hunger Games! There are a ton of amazing dystopian reads for everyone. In fact, if you think back to high school, it was our English teachers trying so hard to introduce us to the fabulous world of dystopian literature. We just weren’t paying attention.

Now it’s time to pay attention.

Note: I haven’t read all of these books, but I have read a majority of them. The ‘must-read’ is based on personal opinion, as well as public popularity.

For Children

Among the Hidden (Shadow Children #1) By: Margaret Peterson Haddix (My Review)

Luke has never been to school. He’s never had a birthday party, or gone to a friend’s house for an overnight. In fact, Luke has never had a friend.

Luke is one of the shadow children, a third child forbidden by the Population Police. He’s lived his entire life in hiding, and now, with a new housing development replacing the woods next to his family’s farm, he is no longer even allowed to go outside.

Then, one day Luke sees a girl’s face in the window of a house where he knows two other children already live. Finally, he’s met a shadow child like himself. Jen is willing to risk everything to come out of the shadows — does Luke dare to become involved in her dangerous plan? Can he afford not to?

Do you know of any other must-read children’s books in the dystopian genre? If so, please contact me and let me know.

For Teens or YA Enthusiasts

The Maze Runner (Maze Runner Trilogy, Book 1) By: James Dashner (My Review)

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.

Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.

Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.

Divergent By: Veronica Roth

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she’s chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she’s kept hidden from everyone because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Uglies (The Uglies) By: Scott Westerfeld (My Review)

(Taken from Goodreads) Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that? Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can’t wait. Not for her license — for turning pretty. In Tally’s world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.

But Tally’s new friend Shay isn’t sure she wants to be pretty. She’d rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world and it isn’t very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth By: Carrie Ryan (My Review)

In Mary’s world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

The Knife of Never Letting Go: Chaos Walking: Book OneBy: Patrick Ness

Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him — something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn’t she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? Propelled by Todd’s gritty narration, readers are in for a white-knuckle journey in which a boy on the cusp of manhood must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he truly is

Hollowland By: Amanda Hocking

Hollowland – the first book in the young adult dystopian series The Hollows… “This is the way the world ends – not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door.” Nineteen-year-old Remy King is on a mission to get across the wasteland left of America, and nothing will stand in her way – not violent marauders, a spoiled rock star, or an army of flesh-eating zombies.

Birthmarked (Birthmarked Trilogy) By: Caragh M. O’Brien

In the future, in a world baked dry by the harsh sun, there are those who live inside the wall and those, like sixteen-year-old midwife, Gaia Stone, who live outside. Gaia has always believed it is her duty, with her mother, to hand over a small quota of babies to the Enclave. But when Gaia’s mother and father are arrested by the very people they so dutifully serve, Gaia is forced to question everything she has been taught to believe. Gaia’s choice is now simple: enter the world of the Enclave to rescue her parents, or die trying.

Under the Never Sky By: Veronica Rossi

Since she’d been on the outside, she’d survived an Aether storm, she’d had a knife held to her throat, and she’d seen men murdered. This was worse.

Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland—known as The Death Shop—are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He’s wild—a savage—and her only hope of staying alive.

A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile—everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria’s help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.

Delirium By: Lauren Oliver (My Review)

They say that the cure for Love will make me happy and safe forever. And I’ve always believed them. Until now. Now everything has changed. Now, I’d rather be infected with love for the tiniest sliver of a second than live a hundred years smothered by a lie.

Matched (Matched Trilogy) By: Ally Condie

For Cassia, nothing is left to chance–not what she will eat, the job she will have, or the man she will marry. In Matched, the Society Officials have determined optimal outcomes for all aspects of daily life, thereby removing the “burden” of choice. When Cassia’s best friend is identified as her ideal marriage Match it confirms her belief that Society knows best, until she plugs in her Match microchip and a different boy’s face flashes on the screen. This improbable mistake sets Cassia on a dangerous path to the unthinkable–rebelling against the predetermined life Society has in store for her.

FeedM.T. Anderson

Identity crises, consumerism, and star-crossed teenage love in a futuristic society where people connect to the Internet via feeds implanted in their brains.

For Titus and his friends, it started out like any ordinary trip to the moon – a chance to party during spring break and play with some stupid low-grav at the Ricochet Lounge. But that was before the crazy hacker caused all their feeds to malfunction, sending them to the hospital to lie around with nothing inside their heads for days. And it was before Titus met Violet, a beautiful, brainy teenage girl who has decided to fight the feed and its omnipresent ability to categorize human thoughts and desires. Following in the footsteps of George Orwell, Anthony Burgess, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr., M. T. Anderson has created a not-so-brave new world — and a smart, savage satire that has captivated readers with its view of an imagined future that veers unnervingly close to the here and now.

AshesBy: Isla J. Bick

It could happen tomorrow . . .

An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions.
Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP.

For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.

Notes: There are a ton of other dystopian teen novels, of course, but these are the ones I felt were ideal to start with.

For Adults (or enthusiastic teens)

The Unit By: Ninni Holmqvist (My Review)

When Dorrit Wegner turned fifty, the government transferred her to a state-of-the-art facility where she can live out her days in comfort. Her apartment is furnished to her tastes, her meals expertly served, and all at the very reasonable non-negotiable price of one cardiopulmonary system. Once an outsider without family, derided by a society bent on productivity, Dorrit finds within The Unit the company of kindred spirits and a dignity conferred by ‘use’ in medical tests. But when Dorrit also finds love, her peaceful submission is blown apart and she must fight to escape before her ‘final donation’.

Anthem By: Ayn Rand

“Anthem” is a dystopian, fiction novella by Ayn Rand, first published in 1938. It takes place at some unspecified future date when mankind has entered another dark age as a result of the evils of irrationality and collectivism and the weaknesses of socialistic thinking and economics. Technological advancement is now carefully planned (when it is allowed to occur at all) and the concept of individuality has been eliminated (for example, the word “I” has disappeared from the language). As is common in her work, Rand draws a clear distinction between the “socialist/communal” values of equality and brotherhood and the “productive/capitalist” values of achievement and individuality. Many of the novella’s core themes, such as the struggle between individualism and collectivism, are echoed in Rand’s later books, such as “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged”.

Nineteen Eighty-Four (Penguin Modern Classics) By: George Orwell

Hidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the past to suit the needs of the Party. Yet he inwardly rebels against the totalitarian world he lives in, which demands absolute obedience and controls him through the all-seeing telescreens and the watchful eye of Big Brother, symbolic head of the Party. In his longing for truth and liberty, Smith begins a secret love affair with a fellow-worker Julia, but soon discovers the true price of freedom is betrayal.

Brave New World By: Aldous Huxley

Aldous Huxley’s tour de force, Brave New World is a darkly satiric vision of a “utopian” future—where humans are genetically bred and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively serve a ruling order. A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, it remains remarkably relevant to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying entertainment.

Fahrenheit 451: A Novel By: Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 is a masterwork of twentieth-century literature set in a bleak, dystopian future.

Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden.

Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television.

When Mildred attempts suicide and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life.

A Clockwork Orange (Norton Critical Editions) By: Anthony Burgess

A terrifying tale about good and evil and the meaning of human freedom, A Clockwork Orange became an instant classic when it was published in 1962 and has remained so ever since. Anthony Burgess takes us on a journey to a nightmarish future where sociopathic criminals rule the night. Brilliantly told in harsh invented slang by the novel’s main character and merciless droog, fifteen-year-old Alex, this influential novel is now available in a student edition.

Lord of the Flies Centenary EditionBy: William Golding

William Golding’s classic novel of primitive savagery and survival is one of the most vividly realized and riveting works in modern fiction. The tale begins after a plane wreck deposits a group of English school boys, aged six to twelve on an isolated tropical island. Their struggle to survive and impose order quickly evolves from a battle against nature into a battle against their own primitive instincts. Golding’s portrayal of the collapse of social order into chaos draws the fine line between innocence and savagery.

The Handmaid’s Tale (Everyman’s Library) By: Margaret Atwood

A gripping vision of our society radically overturned by a theocratic revolution, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale has become one of the most powerful and most widely read novels of our time.

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, serving in the household of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife. She may go out once a day to markets whose signs are now pictures because women are not allowed to read. She must pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, for in a time of declining birthrates her value lies in her fertility, and failure means exile to the dangerously polluted Colonies. Offred can remember a time when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a job, before she lost even her own name. Now she navigates the intimate secrets of those who control her every move, risking her life in breaking the rules.

Unless otherwise noted, all book descriptions were borrowed from Amazon’s website.

Click HERE to participate in Wordless Wednesdays.

What is the theme?

Can you guess the theme? Hint: It was popular in the 80′s.

Note: The birthday party was sponsored by My Baby Clothes Boutique.

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Blogger Meme: Friday Firsts

I try to tweet about all participants, so don’t forget to include your Twitter username if you want to be notified of your tweet mention!

The first line can make or break a reader’s interest. Just how well did the author pull you in to the story with their first sentence? To participate in this weekly book meme is extremely easy.

• Grab the book you are currently reading and open to the first page.
• Write down the first sentence in the first paragraph.
• Create a blog post with this information. (Make sure to include the title & author of the book you are using. Even an ISBN helps!)
• Did this first sentence help draw you into the story? Why or why not?
• Come back to this blog post, hosted on WellReadReviews.com and add your direct link to Mr. Linky! ** Very important!

That’s it

Here is my Friday Firsts: Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix (ISBN: 0689824750) 160 pages.

He saw the first tree shudder and fall, far off in the distance.

No, it’s not the most engaging sentence. It definitely takes a few before you begin to start wondering what is happening and why! But because the topic interested me and it’s such a short book, I decided to keep reading!

Synopsis: (Taken from Amazon.com)

Make sure to add your link below if you have participated! (To do so requires a comment. When you comment, make sure to check participant so your link can be added to Mr. Linky below!)

Since August I have had recurring dreams involving an old high school friend of mine (we’ll call her ‘T’)- a friendship that meant a considerable amount to me but has gone off the deep end and we are no longer on speaking terms. Since August I’ve had dreams (usually weekly) that revolve around my attempting to communicate with her, talk to her – or even dreams in which we are just laughing like old times.

Never have I been so haunted by a single person in my dreams. I just can’t seem to make sense of it, or make sense of why they keep happening and how I can get them to stop. I thought that by my reaching out to her (through emails, Facebook messages, texts, and even sending her a gift for her baby in the mail) that it would get her to speak to me. But it hasn’t. All attempts (probably at least 6) have gone unanswered.

I thought by apologizing for the spiteful things I spewed at her, over the hurt that she never showed up to Carli’s 1st birthday party (or acknowledged it at ALL — being the one who was supposed to be her Godmother) would help release some of the pent up emotions — maybe ridding myself of these dreams for good. But I was wrong.

They just keep happening and it’s emotionally exhausting.

If Iara (a very dear friend of mine) was nearby – I would be sitting in front of her asking for her to help me analyze my dream, hoping there was some clue within my subconscious I needed to know to finally move on and away from this situation that has haunted me for (more than just a few months, but about 2 years).

Because she’s not – I am going to have to do this myself. I am telling my dream in detail, trying to remember each detail I can. Any important symbols, I will make bold.

I was sitting within a few feet away from T, who was speaking to a guy at a table. I knew she knew I was there, but she was choosing to ignore me. Suddenly a young woman I knew came up to me and handed me an old notebook. In it were letters T and I had written back and forth to each other in high school. After I received the notebook, I held it up – getting T’s attention. She took one look at me, rolled her eyes and went back to talking to this man in front of her.

I felt defeated and hurt.

As I am sitting there, reading through the letters she comes up to me and sits down next to me. I feel my chest start to heave and tears want to come through but I won’t let them.

“I am TRYING.” I tell her. With those few words I know she knew that I was trying all I could to get her to talk to me. She no longer seemed angry and placed her hand upon my arm.

“I know.” she said.

Then suddenly I started having mouth/teeth issues. I looked in a mirror and saw that I had a bunch of finger nails(from biting my nails) all in my teeth. I tried to spit them out but there were so many. It was overwhelming. I started spitting and then spewed blood, but told the person next to me that it wasn’t vomit – just the blood from my teeth.

I was trying to pick things out of my teeth but they began rotting away and falling out as well. It suddenly became hard to talk. I looked in my throat and saw that I had hangers lodged in my throat. I took some scissors and cut pieces free – but it was still a struggle.

One phrase comes to mind, “What the hell?!” I am not surprised I almost cried in this dream, as I tend to cry in almost every single dream that T is in – usually tears of happiness that she’s finally speaking to me. Because some of these dream symbols seem a little odd, I wanted to find out what they symbolize and wonder if they’re even remotely related to the situation or make sense in the realm of things.

To help figure out the symbolism of these dreams, I am using online dream dictionary – Dream Moods.

1. Table - To see a table in your dream, represents social unity and the potential for a meeting or gathering. It refers to your social and family connections.  If the table is broken, wobbly or not functional, then it suggests some dissension in a group or sense of insecurity. Perhaps there is something you cannot hold inside any longer and need to bring it out in the open. (See on Dream Moods)
2. Notebook - To see a notebook in your dream, represents things that you need to keep track of and stay on top of. It may indicate emotions and issues that you have overlooked in your waking hours. Consider the contents of the notebook. (See on Dream Moods)
3. Letters/Notes – To read or write a note in your dream, suggests that there is an important message that you need to convey. There is something that you need to let others know. (See on Dream Moods)
4. Tears (holding back) - To dream that you are in tears, signifies that a healing of some sort is taking place in your life. The tears symbolize compassion, emotional healing and spiritual cleansing. Alternatively, tears may indicate pain. (See on Dream Moods).
5. Hand - Represents your connection with that person. Your dream may also reflect anxieties about losing touch with him/her or that you are drifting apart. (See on Dream Moods).
6. Arm (to dream of someone touching) – To see your arms as the emphasis in your dream, indicate your nurturance side and your ability to reach out and care for people. Alternatively, it may represent the struggles and challenges in your life. Consider the pun “arm yourself” which implies that you need to protect yourself, be more aggressive and take a firmer stance on things or the pun “up in arms”, representing anger and your readiness to argue. (See on Dream Moods).
7. Fingernails –  To dream that you are chewing your nails, indicates that a problem is too tough to handle. You are not sure how to go about resolving a situation in your waking life. (See on Dream Moods).
8. Teeth – You may have uttered some false or foul words and those words are coming back to haunt you. (See on Dream Moods).
9. Throat - To see your throat in your dream, symbolizes the ability to express yourself and communicate your thoughts/ideas. To dream that you have a sore throat or have throat problems, suggests that you are having problems saying what you really think. You are having difficulties saying how you feel and conveying your thoughts. You may feel threatened when you express yourself. Alternatively, your dream may be telling you that you need to swallow your pride. (See on Dream Mood).
10. Hangers – To see a hanger in your dream, suggests that you are getting the hang of some situation or some task.  Or it may mean that you are just hanging in there. You need more motivation and encouragement. (See on Dream Mood).
11. Blood – To see blood in your dream, represents life, love, and passion as well as disappointments.To dream that you are bleeding or losing blood, signifies that you are suffering from exhaustion or that you are feeling emotionally drained. It may also denote bitter confrontations between you and your friends.  Your past actions has come back to haunt you. (See on Dream Moods)
12. Scissors (to use to cut something free) – To dream that you are using scissors, denotes decisiveness and control in your waking life. Alternatively, it may suggests that you need to get rid of something in your life. It also represents your ability to cut things or people out of your life. Perhaps you are being snippy about some situation. (See on Dream Moods)

Reading all the symbols, I realize that they all pretty much are right on with the situation. I have said things that I regret and the words are haunting me. I am trying to communicate but am left hanging. The situation needs to be brought to the table and discussed – but how do you do that with someone who refuses to talk to you?

The scissors though – not quite sure entirely how to take that symbol. If the hangers mean I am  just hanging there and I use scissors to cut them free .. does that mean I just need to cut all ties from her? To cut my losses (and hers) and move on? She’s left me hanging after all the times I have tried to communicate. Should I just cut myself free?

Like I said earlier in my dream, “I am TRYING!” but it’s hard letting go of a 12 year friendship.

This challenge is what I really needed after my mini-morning-sickess leave of “absence”. I have a lot of things to do to best utilize my website. After all – I really would like to improve the over all blog experience for my readers, myself, PR connections, publishers, and authors that I work with on a daily basis.

My website is a bit stale though – no? It was really fast paced for a while and then I got knocked out. I have a lot of catching up to do and this challenge, hosted at Maw Books Blog is going to help me do just that!

Basically they have a set of mini challenges, but you can also set goals for yourself! Many wonderful bloggers have teamed up with Bloggiesta and have written articles for us to help make the most of our blog.

Some goals I have for Well-Read Reviews this weekend are:

1. Catch up on my feed subscriptions. Let people know that I still read them, and I enjoy what they have to say.
2. Work on anchor texts – which includes going back in old posts and doing some major editing.
3. Work on my ABOUT page. It’s my #1 hit and I haven’t even finished it! It’s nice people want to know about me. I should probably finish it!
4. Update my BOOKSHELF. There are many books not listed (since October) so I have some catching up to do.
5. Delete irrelevant pages.
6. Create a Wishlist of wished partnerships and products that I am interested in reviewing.
7. Fix the FAQ. I didn’t even know it was broken. Whoops!
8. Add ADVERTISING information.
9. Write reviews of books I have recently finished.
10. Fix SEO Meta tags in each post (old posts) that did not have them.
11. Host a giveaway of some extra books on my bookshelf.

I have quite a bit of work this weekend, and I hope that my daughter will allow me to work on it! We have a birthday party to go to tomorrow evening but hopefully I can get plenty of work in otherwise. Not sure if I can finish it all this weekend, but I will sure try my best!

If you haven’t already, join Bloggiesta. They are also giving away a lot of prizes! If you are a participant, feel free to add your link to Mr. Linky below. It is the new Mr. Linky, which requires you to leave a comment (checking the box that you are a participant) in order to leave a link.

While visiting some of my dailies, I found this new #meme by BlueStocking called Wishful Wednesday. In this weekly #meme you can discuss books you are wishing for! After you are done with your blog entry, you just comment on her site with the permalink to let her know you have participated!

After last week’s Wishful Wednesday, my husband bought me Pride & Prejudice & Zombies! He has been extremely supportive and tolerant of my reading! He is a wonderful man!

Among the Hidden – I love Dystopian novels and found this one mentioned on another blog a day or two ago and would love to get it!

Synopsis: (Taken from Amazon.com)

Luke has never been to school. He’s never had a birthday party, or gone to a friend’s house for an overnight. In fact, Luke has never had a friend.

Luke is one of the shadow children, a third child forbidden by the Population Police. He’s lived his entire life in hiding, and now, with a new housing development replacing the woods next to his family’s farm, he is no longer even allowed to go outside.

Then, one day Luke sees a girl’s face in the window of a house where he knows two other children already live. Finally, he’s met a shadow child like himself. Jen is willing to risk everything to come out of the shadows — does Luke dare to become involved in her dangerous plan? Can he afford not to?

The Everafter – Another “saw it on a blog” and thought the cover was rather pretty!

Synopsis: (Taken from Amazon.com)

Madison Stanton doesn’t know where she is or how she got there. But she does know this—she is dead. And alone, in a vast, dark space. The only company she has in this place are luminescent objects that turn out to be all the things Maddy lost while she was alive. And soon she discovers that with these artifacts, she can reexperience—and sometimes even change—moments from her life.

Her first kiss. A trip to Disney World. Her sister’s wedding. A disastrous sleepover.

In reliving these moments, Maddy learns illuminating and sometimes frightening truths about her life—and death.

This is a haunting and ultimately hopeful novel about the beauty of even the most insignificant moments—and the strength of true love even beyond death.

Synopsis: (Taken from Amazon.com)
At 592 pages, Blankets may well be the single largest graphic novel ever published without being serialized first.

Wrapped in the landscape of a blustery Wisconsin winter, Blankets explores the sibling rivalry of two brothers growing up in the isolated country, and the budding romance of two coming-of-age lovers. A tale of security and discovery, of playfulness and tragedy, of a fall from grace and the origins of faith.

A profound and utterly beautiful work from Craig Thompson.

What are YOU wishing for?