Tuesday, June 21, 2011

WHAT AM I READING THIS WEEK?!

Why not?  I was supposed to be doing SOMETHING with this blog.  Right?  So I shall do this, and once I finish the books mentioned in the post, I might review one or two.  Some I might not feel comfortable reviewing.

BOOK ONE:

PLAGUE by Michael Grant

Plague is a dystopian novel and the fourth book in the Gone Series.  I am not THAT far into it, but I have devoured the first three like they were nothing.  They are enthralling books, and when I started reading them, I was 13, I think.  It was like, WHOA.  Kids MY AGE are the protagonists in this.  They're leaders.

It was kind of inspiring then.

WHAT THIS BOOK IS ABOUT:

This book is about kids in the FAYZ (which stands for the FALLOUT ALLEY YOUTH ZONE) and the trials of trying to survive.  So far, they have survived.  Here is the description from the flap.

It's been eight months since all the adults disappeared. Gone.
They've survived hunger. They've survived lies. But the stakes keep rising, and the dystopian horror keeps building. Yet despite the simmering unrest left behind by so many battles, power struggles, and angry divides, there is a momentary calm in Perdido Beach.

But enemies in the FAYZ don't just fade away, and in the quiet, deadly things are stirring, mutating, and finding their way free. The Darkness has found its way into the mind of its Nemesis at last and is controlling it through a haze of delirium and confusion. A highly contagious, fatal illness spreads at an alarming rate. Sinister, predatory insects terrorize Perdido Beach. And Sam, Astrid, Diana, and Caine are plagued by a growing doubt that they'll escape—or even survive—life in the FAYZ. With so much turmoil surrounding them, what desperate choices will they make when it comes to saving themselves and those they love?

Plague, Michael Grant's fourth book in the bestselling Gone series, will satisfy dystopian fans of all ages.


This was retrieved from HARPER TEEN's website. (clicky)

BOOK 2:

Brave Girl Eating by Harriet Brown.

This book is not one I plan on reviewing... Mostly because, well, I know them.  It is a VERY well written memoir.  I encourage you all to pick it up.

WHAT IT IS ABOUT:

I've never had anorexia, but I know it well. I see it on the street, in the gaunt and sunken face, the bony chest, the spindly arms of an emaciated woman. I've come to recognize the flat look of despair, the hopelessness that follows, inevitably, from years of starvation. I think: That could have been my daughter. It wasn't. It's not. If I have anything to say about it, it won't be.

Millions of families are affected by eating disorders, which usually strike young women between the ages of fourteen and twenty. But current medical practice ties these families' hands when it comes to helping their children recover. Conventional medical wisdom dictates separating the patient from the family and insists that "it's not about the food," even as a family watches a child waste away before their eyes. Harriet Brown shows how counterproductive—and heartbreaking—this approach is by telling her daughter's story of anorexia. She describes how her family, with the support of an open-minded pediatrician and a therapist, helped her daughter recover using family-based treatment, also known as the Maudsley approach.

Chronicling her daughter Kitty's illness from the earliest warning signs, through its terrifying progression, and on toward recovery, Brown takes us on one family's journey into the world of anorexia nervosa, where starvation threatened her daughter's body and mind. But hope and love—of the ordinary, family-focused kind—shine through every decision and action she and her family took. Brave Girl Eating is essential reading for families and professionals alike, a guiding light for anyone who's coping with this devastating disease.

*Taken from Harper Collins' website (AKA NOT MINE).  (clicky)



Of course, there are other books I am reading.

I am also reading ONE PIECE mangas, and Les Miserables.  That is all that I am reading this week.  Soon, I will be reading Keary Taylor's book EDEN.