Fangirl

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (Seriously, how awesome of a name is that? Is it her pen name or her actual name? If it is her actual name her parents were brilliant.). I actually don't know how to talk about this book. In a way it is similar to The Fault in our Stars by John Green. In all seriousness, Cath (the main character) is practically me. I say that is all seriousness. I was browsing the book store when I spotted the book and read the first page. How Cath reacted was exactly how I would react, if I had had the guts to even live on campus.

Rainbow is a brilliant story teller and writer. She got the whole fangirl down to the molecule. And the fanfiction? Brilliant. This is a unique and one of a kind book. If you understand at all what it feels like to become so immersed in a series (Harry Potter anyone?), to plaster you walls with it, make constant references to it, wear clothing about it. Any of the above, you will get this book.

And seeing the ways in which Cath grew in the book, it made me wonder in what ways I will grow, and in what ways I have grown, since I am so much like Cath.

This book is going right up there with The Fault in Our Stars. It is going to stay with me, it touched me in a unique way. And I love books that do that.




   One of the goals for this blog is to provide information for parents and readers alike to find 'clean' reads suitable for their children or themselves. In all my reviews I will mention general themes from the book, language, sexual/romantic interaction, and violence.

     Themes:
  coming of age, college, fangirling, relationships

        Language:
   Cursing throughout. Multiple F-Bombs (Probably around fifty tops)

        Sexual/Romantic Interaction
 College, and no religious values. Multiple references to sex, virginity, homosexuality, bodies, etc.

        Violence
 Not so much violence as crazy life violence. Drunkenness, mental issues, parental failings, etc. 

       I would give Fangirl a rating of mild PG-13, but if you really dislike language then I would rate this as a heavy PG-13 to Light R

      On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = horrible, 2 = OK, 3 = I liked it, 4 = I really liked it, 5 = I loved it), I would give Fangirl a 4.5

Messenger: The Legacy of Mattie J.T. Stepanek and Heartsongs

I worked on reading this book all of November, and finished it last night. I cried at the end. Mattie's story is such a heart warming story, not because he had a terrible disease, but because he let his 'heartsong' shine through it all aspects of his life. This memoir was narrated by his mother, with Larry Lindner writing it out. She said she was always a story teller, not a story writer :)

I think the favorite thing I had about this book, was the humanity in it. I was recently on a trip that had workshops and tables where you could do different things. At one of the tables were different quotes that you could read to find a word that inspired your to write on a card decorated with your fingerprints. The word I chose was 'HUMANITY'. I have noticed that many times that we have a tendency to portray humans and our humanity as a curse. 'I'm only human.'

That's right, you are only human, but you are a human created by GOD. God said you were good. He called humans 'very good'. Being human is not a curse, we might fail sometimes in being human, but that is not the curse. The curse is our fallen, sinful, souls.

And we seem to portray celebrities as selfish, cold hearted people. But in this book, you see a side of them you have never seen, because you never allowed yourself to see it before. Many times I had to pause and just look up at God and say "Thank you for humanity". Humanity is a beautiful thing to treasure and protect, and I believe that is what Mattie knew with his heartsong of peace. The best way to treasure and protect humanity is with peace.

I have added all of Mattie's books of poetry to my 'to-read' list. He was such a beautiful, and talented boy. I highly recommend this book.

I decided not to give a 'clean or not' review for this book. But I would rate Messenger a five out of five just for the joyful message is brings.

Recent Reads

I have a couple of books that I have read, but have decided not to do an individual post for because I procrastinated so long on them. The books are City of Ashes, the second book in the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare, and The Royal Ranger, the 12th (I think) book in a series that was suppose to have ended about a year ago! Leaving the library I was so excited after finding it.

First, City of Ashes. I started reading this book a couple of days after reading Mockingjay, to give myself a chance to get over the emotional trauma from that book. When I sat down and started it, page one I was relieved. Finally! A book written in third person! After reading so many books written in the first person recently, it was such a relief to finally have one in third person to read!

Plot wise, the whole thing is moving at a fairly fast pace, for the fact that each book so far has covered the span of a couple of weeks to a month of time, with some time change inbetween. I feel like it is all being well done, and I am looking forward to starting the next book.

I was especially in love with the character development of Jace in this book. I felt like this was his book to develop. Book one really gave you a chance to get introduced to the characters, and in book two those characters were expanded on, but I feel like Jace was the most. I really hope in the third book Cassandra Clare does more developing on Clary. Although the book is mostly from her point of view, you got to see it from many different angles (main reason I prefer third person writing to first person writing in books), and I thought she executed that well.

I would also give this book the same rating and warning as the first.

Now for The Royal Ranger, by John Flanagan. I love John Flanagan's writing, and his characters. I have gotten so attached to them all over this series and was so sad when it ended (hence my enjoyment when I found this new book!). It took me about a third of the book to get use to the time lapse and to picture the characters with their aged appearances, but it didn't bother me. I love the story for this book and thought he did a great job, as always, with the entire thing.

It is so easy for me to fall in love with the characters John Flanagan writes. And Will and Halt's witty and sarcastic personality is perfect. Sheer perfection. I laugh out loud while reading these books. And he does action/battle scenes amazingly. Add Will and Halt with those scenes and you have highly memorable books. They are serious, but light and funny. I adore them all, and just love love love love love them. I haven't read his 'spin-off' series with the Skandians, but I can't wait to start, because I love his writing so much. My only fear is that I won't love it as much as Ranger's Apprentice.

The ending of this book did leave it open for more in the series, but I hope John Flanagan leaves it as it is. I don't want to much of a bad thing, and I'm afraid that any more Ranger's Apprentice won't be good.




    One of the goals for this blog is to provide information for parents and readers alike to find 'clean' reads suitable for their children or themselves. In all my reviews I will mention general themes from the book, language, sexual/romantic interaction, and violence.

     Themes:
  Fantasy, medieval-esque, knights and kings

        Language:
  None

        Sexual/Romantic Interaction
   Married couples, and some romantic relationships, but none objectionable.

        Violence
  Murder, death, and some violence, but nothing too disturbing.

       I would give The Royal Ranger a rating of heavy PG

       On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = horrible, 2 = OK, 3 = I liked it, 4 = I really liked it, 5 = I loved it), I would give The Royal Ranger a 5

Four Perfect Pebbles: A Holocaust Story

My local library had an event tonight. Marion Blumenthal Lazan, a Holocaust survivor, came to speak about her story as told in her memoir Four Perfect Pebbles: A Holocaust Story. Although Lila Perl wrote the book with background information, Marion and her mother, Ruth (who died last December, and lived to be almost 105 years old) gave many first hand accounts for the book (a majority of the book is made of quotes from Marion and her mother). The story is beautiful and inspiring. I really felt like I had just sat down and listened to my grandmother tell me a story of her childhood when I read it. It is worthy of a spot on your bookshelf.

And because I went to listen to Marion, I stayed to have her sign my copy of the book (which I had just got in the mail yesterday, and a good thing because they were sold out by the end of the event!).

"To Sara - With my Best Wishes. Marion B Lazan, November 2013"

I (*cough*mydad*cough*) had the courage to go over to her husband while we were listening and have him sign my book also :)

"Best Wishes, Nathaniel Lazan"

I don't say much when I meet authors/famous people, because that's just how I am (And I'm just excited to have the opportunity to see them in person and listen to them speak). But I made sure to thank her for sharing her story with me. She is a beautiful lady. I'm glad I got to meet her.

And it was nice because my daddy was with me, and my little brother got to hear most of her speech before he went to his class. I love being able to do things with my daddy. I will be sharing Marion's story with my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, and nieces and nephews.

I love how she proceeded to share end her speech:

"We are the last generation [my generation] that will have 'direct contact' with the veterns of WWII and Holocaust survivors. It is our job to share their stories with our children and grand children and great grandchildren."

And that is why I buy books. Because when I die, my descendants won't just have my legacy, but the legacy of many others, too.