This feature is thanks to the Story Siren, in which I take every Sunday and write about all the books and other book/movie related goodies I've received throughout the week.

For Review (hard copy): The Monster Variations by Daniel Kraus

Also, Bending Toward the Sun by Leslie Gilbert-Lurie and Trust Me by Peter Leonard

From Amazon: Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert (!) And a new copy of Paradise Lost by John Milton, since I lost my old one. AND Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn.

Store Bought: My Soul To Take by Rachel Vincent *I wanted Sleepless by Thomas Fahy, but I have no. money. The thing is, you all could have had an interview WITH Thomas Fahy had I been able to purchase Sleepless, but, alas, you must wait for a later date. =P EDIT: I got this nice copy of H.G. Wells: A Dream of Armageddon. I'm thinking of waiting till the school year to read it, so I can walk around the hallways with it to look smart :P And I also got this cool comic book called "The Big Book of Weirdos" which is a collection of illustarted biographies of some of the batshits in history. Fun.

Ebooks or .pdf copies (for review): The Blue Pen by Lisa Rusczyk, Dirty Little Angel by Christopher Tusa

Coming soon: An interview with Lisa Rusczyk about her novel, The Blue Pen, and a review of Megan's Way and a chat with the author. Also, a review of Dragon's House by John Shors. Actually, I'm expecting alot of ARCs and interviews with authors soon. I had a list typed up but I can't remember what I named it. Jeez.

Also, here's some bookish news for you: Cassandra Clare's new series, the Infernal Devices, has a new website.

Ah, well. Look out tomorrow for a review of The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Ninth Grade Slays, and a guest post with author Jess C. Scott about self-publishing.

Until then, a bit of eye candy a la Supernatural.

Mmmm. Winchester goodness.

Cheers,

Danielle

P.S...

"I got soul but I'm not a soldier"

So.

Title: Fade

Author: Robert Cormier

Pages: 320

Summary (from AllReads.com):

At the age of 13, in the summer of 1938, Paul Moreaux discovers he
can
"fade" -- that is, cause himself and his clothing to disappear from
the
sight of others at will. He lives in the small Massachusetts town of
Monument, in the working-class Canadian Catholic quarter known as
Frenchtown. At
first, he is
thrilled with the things he can do -- spy on
his beloved but
loose Aunt Rosanna, and the wealthy twins across town,
Emerson and Page Winslow
-- but there are larger problems swirling about
him: The comb factory where his
father is employed goes on strike, and
Rosanna's lover Rudolphe Toubert is a
brutal
hoodlum who controls much
of the criminal activity in town. Paul also
learns that his "gift" brings
him knowledge about others and himself that he
wishes he never had.

Paul can Fade.

One second, he's there, the next he isn't. Just like that.

At first, he's thrilled: we've all wished we had the ability to vanish from sight, spy on our friends and family (if you say you don't, your a liar). He now has the opprotunity to observe his Aunt Rosanna, attractive and proud of it. He can watch the people in his town behind closed doors, discover who they really are without risking being caught. Every teenage boy's dream, right?

But then, as time goes on and more and more dark secrets are revealed, Paul begins to wish he never had the Fade.

This novel is definetly not for the easily offended. There are some touchy subject matter such as incest, depictions of minor sexuality, murder, mental illness, and child abuse. While accesable, it is pretty disturbing at times. Okay, really disturbing at times.

This story has a total of three narrators; Paul, a young up and coming publisher (and distant cousin of Paul's) who discovers Paul's (who had become a writer) final manuscript before his death---which proves to be the rest of the novel thus far. As she reads it, she begins to wonder. Is this really an autobiography? Did all this happen?

The third narrator, I feel, will definetly spoil it for anyone who has not read it yet, so I'm not going to mention him. But, trust me, his narrative is probably the most unsettling of the three.

I think the highlight of Fade is master storyteller Robert Cormier's ability to take these dreary--often horrific--subjects and themes and make them incredably easy to read. Things like incest and adultary is described in a way that kids can understand. I first read Fade when I was eight, and I remember thinking, "wow, this is wack" while, only days earlier, I had read a book about the exact same subject matter, and having no idea what they were talking about. Cormier's ability to connect with a younger audience is astounding, and his charactors and prose just add to his status as one of the best YA authors of all time.

It's impossible to describe much of Fade because everything about is twisted together in a way that makes near everything a spoiler. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it; Fade will leave you breathless with it's surreal, eery tone and it's strong, layered characters.

Rating: 9 out of 10---an instant classic.

Also: If I were you, I'd go out right now and buy all of Cormier's books--most notably After the First Death, Tenderness, We All Fall Down, and The Rag and Bone Shop.

Book Title: The Knife of Never Letting Go

Author: Patrick Ness

Pages: 496

Summery (from PatrickNess.com):

Todd Hewitt is the last boy in Prentisstown.

But Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in a constant, overwhelming, never-ending Noise. There is no privacy. There are no secrets.

Or are there?

Just one month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd unexpectedly stumbles upon a spot of complete silence.

Which is impossible.

Prentisstown has been lying to him.

And now he's going to have to run...

Can words express how much I loved The Knife of Never Letting Go? Probably not. But I'll do my best.

This book starts off with, single handedly, the best first sentence in the history of literature:

The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don't got nothing much to say. About Anything.

And so begins The Knife of Never Letting Go.

Todd lives in a world of Noise.

Constant, unfiltered, timeless Noise that wafts through his small community just as the sound of traffic does in ours. Every thought, every feeling, every tick of an emotion is broadcast for the entire world to hear--at least, as far as Todd is concerned. He's been told that Prentisstown is the only civilization in a world of nothing, desolate and empty for his entire life. Mr. Ness describes the Noise perfectly:

"The Noise is a man unfiltered, and without a filter, a man is just chaos walking"

It's not hard to believe that the entire book is just Todd's Noise. Words are misspelled, do to his lack of education. Single sentences run on for paragraphs, words are cut off before they can even be processed, every thought Todd has is completely raw. While this could have easily been a gimick, Patrick Ness pulls it off with surprising grace and fluency. Easy to understand, easy to relate to, The Knife of Never Letting Go is coming-of-age tale set in a world where coming of age is deadly, and manhood is strictly defined. It's a place where you both wish you were and thank every God you can think of your not.

As for the characters, they are very well defined. Even Manchee, Todd's talking dog, seems be a character all his own, Todd's loyal companion throughout the book, putting his little dog life on the line a handful of times in order to protect him (the ever important "awwww" factor). At first, Todd makes it very clear that he does not want, and never asked for, Manchee (he wanted a knife, as it was), which he explains quite thoroughly:

Ben’s sent me to pick him some swamp apples and he’s made me take Manchee with me, even tho we all know Cillian only bought him to stay on Mayor Prentiss’ good side and so suddenly here’s this brand-new dog as a present for my birthday last year when I never said I wanted any dog, that what I said I wanted was for Cillian to finally fix the fissionbike so I wouldn’t have to walk every forsaken place in this stupid town, but oh, no, happy birthday, Todd, here’s a brand new puppy, Todd, and even tho you don’t want him, even tho you never asked for him, guess who has to feed him and train him and wash him and take him for walks and listen to him jabber now he’s got old enough for the talking germ to set his mouth moving? Guess who?

But, as you turn the pages and get deeper into Todd's chaotic thought process, you realize he does hold a certain affection for his dog, gradually turning into love as they spend their lonely days together running from God-knows-what, which I think is one of the more poigent parts of the book.

I especially love how they keep Todd and Viola's--the girl he meets as he runs from Prentisstown--unromantic. Call me a cynic, but it's highly unlikely that everytime a guy meets a girl, they fall in love. Especially while on the run from an army. I think that it's a curse that befalls far too much young adult literature these days--no matter how desperate the situation, no matter how CHAOTIC the circumstances, SOMEONE ALWAYS FALLS IN LOVE. I'm always a sucker for romance, but sometimes, it's just like, "I already read this. Three hundred times." If The Knife of Never Letting Go teaches us one thing, it's that a boy and a girl can meet and *gasp* just be friends.

Keep in mind, dear readers, that just because it's in the YA section, does not mean it's for the faint of heart: The Knife of Never Letting go is a horrific, all-to-realistic tale of what could happen to our--and other's--world if we're not careful. Though the year is unspecified, the place (and planet) left oddly in the dark, it's in a way that just makes it all the more eery and surreal.

There's no way of describing The Knife of Never Letting Go without spoiling it, but I will say this; anyone, young or old, should pick it up. Immediately. Go, you fools. Your missing out. There are precious hours being wasted. GO!

Also: If your interested in Post-Apocolyptic/Dystopian novels, might I suggest The Hunger Games, Obernewtyn, Exodus, Gone, or Life As We Knew It, all amazing books.

Rating: 10 out of 10