Uglies: Glamor or Freedom?

May, Favorite Author Month, is almost over, but that doesn’t mean The Bookshelf doesn’t have enough time for one more post honoring the best of authors! Authors are some of humanity’s finest specimens. Authors take thoughts, actions, dreams, and emotions and put them into a story. They write about what’s around them, what they have suffered, what they have conquered, and what’s ahead of them. Most significantly, authors write about what’s most important to them. A great book can be about any topic and any character because a great book is not determined by those two things. A great book is determined by how much an author is interested in a topic and how much thought and effort they put into that topic. Great authors are ones that put a great deal of research, emotion, and originality into their great books. Scott Westerfeld is one of these authors.

A published author for over ten years, Westerfeld has written for both adult and young adult audiences. Today, his books are mainly targeted towards young adults, but that doesn’t change how he writes his books. I have read seven books and two short stories by Scott Westerfeld, and all of them were about different, but engaging, topics. Scott Westerfeld imagines and creates alternate worlds for his novels, worlds that he has obviously used many years and many words to develop and evolve. 

The new US cover of Uglies

Uglies, first published back in 2005, is the first in a series about a futuristic world where, at the age of sixteen, everyone receives an operation to become a “Pretty.” The title makes this book out to be a seemingly shallow tale, but it’s not. Uglies is a breath-taking, and often horrifying, look at a future Earth. Uglies starts off with Tally Youngblood, the main character for the first three Uglies books, sneaking out of her ugly dorm at night to see her best friend, Peris, who recently became a Pretty. Tally, who’s slated to become a Pretty in five months, is anxious to have her operation and to start living the party-like life of a Pretty. To help make the wait less tortuous, Tally decides to visit Peris, hoping that he will help her become more patient and help her overcome any worries. Unfortunately, reaching Peris is not easy. He is at a party the night that Tally arrives, and Tally must crash the bash to reach him. After a series of disappointing events, including an odd encounter with a now pretty Peris, Tally must escape the party by pulling an alarm and jumping off the building. On her way back over the river to Uglyville, Tally runs into a person. At first, Tally hides, thinking the person is a government official – it’s illegal for an Ugly to be in New Pretty Town – but after closer examination, Tally discovers that the person is not only an official but another Ugly!

Fast forward a few months later, and Tally is getting prepared for her operation, which is only a few days away. The person she saw in New Pretty Town, Shay, is now her new best friend. Tally and Shay share the same birthday, and they are both scheduled to get the operation on the same day, their sixteenth birthday. However, Shay has other plans. Shay wants to escape town and run away into the wild to live with the Smoke – a group of Uglies that have never received the operation. Shay tries to get Tally to come along, but she won’t budge. Tally looks forward to becoming a Pretty; she, unlike Shay, wants to be like everyone else. Shay ends up running away, to the wild, leaving Tally to receive the operation by herself.

Scott Westerfeld, author of Uglies

When her sixteenth birthday rolls around, instead of being taken to an operating room, Tally is taken to a government official place called Special Circumstances. Tally, confused and scared, is unsure of what is happening, until an evil doctor, Dr. Cable, comes along and explains it to her. Dr. Cable explains to Tally that Special Circumstances has known about the Smoke for a while, and, now that Shay has run away to them, they want Tally to find the Smoke. If Tally chooses not to find the Smoke and its members, she will forever be an Ugly. Tally, not wanting to be ugly forever, starts on an expedition into the wild. Along the way, Tally discovers much about herself and the area outside of her protective city. Eventually, Tally reaches the Smoke and is shocked at what she finds. When she first arrives, she wants to immediately set off her locator, given to her by Special Circumstances, but finds that she cannot do it. Tally learns of what it means to actually become a Pretty and that it does more than just changes your appearance. It alters your brain! Tally questions if the world that she is living in is any better than the world that occurred before hers, a world that was torn by overpopulation, disease, and war. Tally must make a rash decision between what she has wanted all her life and what she just recently discovered. 

Ultimately leading to a thrilling, cliff-hanger ending, Uglies is a phenomenal look into a world gone wrong. Often called the book that revived the dystopian genre, Uglies is in itself a debate about self-image, freedom, and willpower. Scott Westerfeld has received many accolades and positive reviews, from professionals and fans alike, for Uglies, which later spawned a series. Following Uglies is Pretties, Specials, and Extras. All four books incorporate both wonderful and horrific inventions and innovations of this futuristic world. Westerfeld plants multi-layered questions in the reader’s mind, questions that ultimately may not have a definite answer. His Uglies series, and other books that he has written, question modern society, the past, and the future and how things can be extremely different. 

Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars

(images via and via and via)

One Year Ago...

One year ago, I was one year younger.

One year ago, the average word count for my posts was about 300.

One year ago, my writing was juvenile.

One year ago, I didn’t exactly know, where, to, place, commas.

One year ago, I placed emoticons at inappropriate places. :)  ;P >:(

(and parentheses, too)

One year ago, I didn’t realize that “The arrow affected the aardvark. The effect was eye-popping,”

or that “Sue accepted all party invitations, except ones from George.”

One year ago, this blog was all white and bland.

One year ago, I used the words, “thought-provoking” and “intriguing” way too much.

One year ago, I blogged about uninteresting topics, such as insecticides, and 

made impossible goals, like reading only classic books over the summer.

One year ago, I discovered the word novella and didn’t stop saying it for an entire week.

One year ago, I created the goal that I would inform the world of great books.

One year ago today, I created The Bookshelf: Book Reviews, Recommendations, and News

by Jacob Hopkins.

And I would say that it’s been a pretty good year.

Stats, Part II

Last August, I shared with you some of the various statistics of The Bookshelf and its viewers. Now it is May, one day before The Bookshelf’s first birthday, and I’m ready to share with you some new, more accurate stats about this, in my opinion, great book blog.

The Bookshelf has been receiving more pageviews, more comments, and more foreign visitors than ever before. Below, I have separated the various stats into different paragraphs:

Pageviews: They generally range from 30-65 per day, but they are very inconsistent. For example, on May 1st, I received 41 pageviews, then on May 2nd, 34 pageviews, and on May 3rd, only 16 pageviews. At first, I assumed days that I posted on would have a higher amount of pageviews than those that I didn’t. However, May 1st had the most pageviews out of any day in the first week of May, and I didn’t post anything that day. I didn’t post anything the day before, either. Oddly, I did post on both the 2nd and the 3rd. That’s some strange stuff. 

The Bookshelf on an iPhone

Search Engines and Keywords: About thirty viewers have found my blog through Google and another seven through Bing. I’m so happy to see that I’m “search-able”. That’s great (and in retrospect, a little creepy, too)! What I find strange is what search keywords are used to find my blog. Of course, there’s the obvious ones, like “the bookshelf jacob hopkins”, “the bookshelf jake hopkins”, and “the bookshelf jacob”. But then there are the odd ones, which people clearly weren’t intending to find a book review blog with. For example, “film reel tattoo” (I do have a picture of a film reel on the Books into Movies poll page), “happyface emond” (I wrote a review of this book), and “what is the book before the throne of fire” (which I blatantly answered here, “…from The Red Pyramid, the book before The Throne of Fire…”).

Web Browsers: Mozilla Firefox leads the competition with a little over 50% of the pageviews. Internet Explorer comes in second, with 36% of the pageviews. Apple’s Safari web browser is third, Google Chrome is fourth, and Java is trailing along at the end with fifth place.

Operating Systems: As expected, there’s the usuals, Microsoft Windows, Apple’s Macintosh, and the lesser known Linux. What I’m really excited about, is that I have 23 pageviews from iPods/iPhones and one pageview from both a Blackberry and an iPad. I think it’s so cool that someone is reading my blog on a portable device. They could be risking their lives, looking at their mobile devices while driving, for me and my book blog. Not that I recommend web browsing while driving….

Foreign Visitors: I saved the best for last! The majority of my blog viewers come from the U.S., but I also receive pageviews from several other countries. Shall I list them all? I shall: Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom and Vietnam. That means, including the U.S., I receive pageviews from twenty-five countries. Twenty-five! That’s twenty-two more than last August, when I published my first stats post. Excluding the U.S., Russia has the most amount of pageviews, followed by Canada in second and South Korea in third. Please, please, please keep visiting foreign visitors. I wish I could thank all of you individually. Hopefully, a big group thank you will suffice – please see a “Thank You!” message on the right side of the blog, under the blog archive.

I believe that I have covered all statistics that are made available to me. Now it’s time to prepare for tomorrow’s one year birthday. But before I leave, I must give a HUGE “thank you” to everyone everywhere who has visited, commented, or voted on The Bookshelf. I am honored to have had such a successful first year, but I would have been lost without you, the readers.

Thank you,

Jacob 

(images via and via and via)

Unwind: Taking Apart and Recreating

Continuing with The Bookshelf’s Favorite Author Month, I have decided to write a review of Unwind, one of my favorite books, by Neal Shusterman, one of my favorite authors. As mentioned in previous posts, it is officially Favorite Author Month on The Bookshelf, a time to praise the wonderful creators of books – authors.

Unwind, a thought-provoking and often disturbing book, was one of my favorite reads of last year. Unwind takes place in the future in an America that has been through not one, but two, civil wars. The second war was caused by the great debate of abortion, a current hot button issue. There were two sides to this fictional war: Pro-life and Pro-choice. Ultimately, neither side won, however, a compromise was made. In this futuristic America, abortion has been outlawed. Instead, of death before birth, a new method known as “unwinding” is used. If a parent is unsatisfied with their child, they may send them, between the ages of 13 and 17, to a camp to be “unwound”. Unwinding is the process of taking apart a human, literally unwinding them, and giving the parts of the human to those that need them. For example, a blind person could receive a pair of eyes from an unwound being, or an amputee could receive an arm. No part of the unwound person is put to waste. The leaders of America and the creators of the unwinding process believe that the unwound human continues to live on, just in many different forms in many different places. Unwinding is accepted and commonly practiced in this horrific picture of the U.S.

The events of Unwind take place many years after the establishment of unwinding. Switching point-of-views, Unwind follows the lives of three characters, Conner, Rita, and Lev, all slated to be unwound. Conner is a trouble-maker and a rebel. His parents are anxious to have him unwound; to rid themselves of an “imperfect” child. Rita has been an orphan, living as a ward of state, for quite some time. She has found solitude in her music, but her world is turn upside down when she is ordered to be unwound due to budget cuts. Lev has always known that he would one day be unwound. He comes from a big, religious family. Lev is the youngest child in his family, and he looks forward to being a tithe: giving his body up to be unwound. 

These three protagonists begin the book with three very different views about unwinding, correctness, and life itself. However, as the book progresses the three once very determined characters have their views altered as revelations are revealed. Eventually, the three of them meet and discover what it means to be unwound and what happens to parts of once living, breathing humans. They question if they will actually live on in another form and, if so, will it still be a life worth living. 

Neal Shusterman, an author of many different, astounding, and moving books, has written a superb and – Dare I say it twice in one month? – flawless novel. Just like his compelling and engaging characters, you, the reader, will find yourself questioning and pondering life in this world. A world that on the outside seems safe and even caring, but on the deep inside is throbbing with terror. Unwind is a raw look at an unimaginable, yet possible, world. 

Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars

(image via)

The Throne of Fire: Hieroglyphic Heroes

Rick Riordan, one of my all-time favorite authors, just recently released The Throne of Fire, the second book in his Egyptian mythology series, The Kane Chronicles. In 2005, Riordan, once an adult mystery author, released his first novel for middle readers and young adults, The Lightning Thief. This Greek mythology adventure mystery novel spawned the widely popular Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Upon ending Percy Jackson’s story in 2009, Riordan created two new series, another one about Greek mythology and one about Egyptian mythology. Despite taking different directions and adding new characters to his more recent books, Riordan’s books remain the best of the best, garnering many accolades and number one positions on bestseller lists. His previous books have been called “clever”, “adventurous”, and “witty”. The Throne of Fire lives up to the level of greatness that its predecessors created.

A warning to all: Spoilers from The Red Pyramid, the book before The Throne of Fire, are present in this review. Proceed with caution.

The Throne of Fire started off with a bang. Taking place a few weeks after the end of The Red Pyramid, Carter and Sadie, the book’s sibling protagonists, find themselves in the Brooklyn Museum, scouring for a scroll, a piece of The Book of Ra. Ra, the sun god, has been in hibernation for centuries, but Sadie and Carter want to attempt to bring him back to Earth using the powers that they have as Egyptian magicians. The siblings believe that bringing Ra, the original Egyptian god, back will allow them to defeat Apophis, an evil snake spirit that wants to swallow the world. Sounds like Carter and Sadie are saving the world, right? That’s not what some people think.

The majority of the other magicians think that bringing gods into the mix will only worsen the world’s problems. They believe that the gods are manipulative, greedy, and too powerful. It sounds like they’re trying to do what’s best too, right? No. The magicians, especially the powerful ones, are evil, forceful, antagonizing people who try to stop Carter and Sadie from retrieving the remaining two pieces of The Book of Ra, the book that will revive Ra. With the ever-present threat of Apophis and evil magicians looming over them, the sibling duo travels the world in search of the rest of The Book of Ra. Along the way, they encounter a few friendly gods, many menacing gods, water demons, evil ice cream men, and, of course, a giant baboon.

Told from two witty and fascinating point-of-views, The Throne of Fire is spot-on. Just like, The Red Pyramid, The Throne of Fire is an audio transcript from a cassette given to the author by the main characters. This book is a daring, mysterious, humorous experience. Its magical spells and memorable characters will stay with you long past the final page. You will be dazzled by its rich setting and lyrical descriptions. Rick Riordan is the ultimate author and his novels are the ultimate stories. 

Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars

What I'm Reading (05/03/11)

I know that's it has been a while since my last "What I'm Reading" post (August seventh, to be exact), but I figured it's never too late to revive an old idea. So, without further ado, I present to you a new "What I'm Reading" post!

I have begun reading The Throne of Fire, by Rick Riordan. The second in The Kane Chronicles, The Throne of Fire is the sequel to The Red Pyramid, which followed the story of Carter and Sadie as they attempted to rescue their father from the evil Egyptian god, Set. Much like Riordan's Greek mythology novels, The Kane Chronicles offers many daring adventures, witty remarks, and visits to international locations. I look forward to reading The Throne of Fire, and I hope to have a review up on Saturday (fingers crossed). This is all part of The Bookshelf's Favorite Author Month. While I have not finished the The Throne of Fire yet, I am positive I will love it because Rick Riordan is, and has been for a while, one of my absolute favorite authors!

The publisher's synopsis is below, however, I would suggest you not read it if you are planning to read The Red Pyramid – major spoilers will be revealed!

Ever since the gods of Ancient Egypt were unleashed in the modern world, Carter Kane and his sister Sadie have been in trouble. As descendants of the House of Life, the Kanes have some powers at their command, but the devious gods haven't given them much time to master their skills at Brooklyn House, which has become a training ground for young magicians.

And now their most threatening enemy yet - the chaos snake Apophis - is rising. If they don't prevent him from breaking free in a few days' time, the world will come to an end. In other words, it's a typical week for the Kane family.

To have any chance of battling the Forces of Chaos, the Kanes must revive the sun god Ra. But that would be a feat more powerful than any magician has ever accomplished.

First they have to search the world for the three sections of the Book of Ra, then they have to learn how to chant its spells. Oh, and did we mention that no one knows where Ra is exactly?

Narrated in two different wisecracking voices, featuring a large cast of new and unforgettable characters, and with adventures spanning the globe, this second installment in the Kane Chronicles is nothing short of a thrill ride.

That's The Throne of Fire! I look forward to posting on Saturday!

Gary D. Schmidt: Author of Flawless Prose

Gary D. Schmidt, an author for over fifteen years, has been praised numerous times by numerous reviewers. “There is no limit to what Schmidt may accomplish,” says Liz Rosenberg of the Boston Globe. Winner of the Newbery Honor for his books Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, which also received a Printz Honor, and The Wednesday Wars, Gary D. Schmidt has shown excellence in young adult literature, especially historical fiction. He makes “the implausible believable and the everyday momentous,” says Booklist in a starred review of The Wednesday Wars. I have read, and loved, cherished, and celebrated, books by Gary D. Schmidt, and I am thrilled to review his books as part of The Bookshelf’s Favorite Author Month because he is one of my favorite authors. One review of Schmidt’s The Wednesday Wars struck a chord in me, “Schmidt’s prose…is flawless,” The Bulletin. That four word simple sentence is absolutely true. Gary D. Schmidt has the writing style that superbly expresses the emotion and thought of his books. And that’s why he is a Favorite Author of the Month.

 

I have read two books by Gary D. Schmidt: The Wednesday Wars and Okay for Now. The Wednesday Wars tells the story of Holling Hoodhood, a Presbyterian seventh grader in the 1960s that must visit with one of his teachers, Mrs. Baker, while all the other students, who are Catholic or Jewish, attend religious instruction. Holling is convinced that Mrs. Baker is out to get him. Mrs. Baker assigns Shakespeare’s plays for Holling to read and later for the two of them to discuss during their afternoon sessions. While wary at first, Holling comes to understand the Shakespearean pieces and relates them to his own life. With the help of Shakespeare, Mrs. Baker, and a few other friends, Holling is able to stretch limitations, overcome fear, and head forward into the future. The first person narrative of The Wednesday Wars is magnificent and poetic. Gary D. Schmidt provides great relationships and references to Shakespeare when telling Holling’s story. An excellent read – 5.0 out of 5 stars!

Okay for Now is a companion novel that follows the story of Holling’s best friend, Doug Swieteck, as he and his family are uprooted from their home on Long Island and move to, as Doug would say, “stupid” Marysville, NY. Doug is upset that he has to leave his friends and school and connections for a trashy house in a deserted town. But when Doug travels to the local library, which is “stupidly” only open on Saturdays, Doug discovers a displayed copy of John James Audubon’s Birds of America. Much like Holling with Shakespeare, Doug learns to relate his life to the majestic soars and daring falls of the pictures of the birds in the book. Despite living in a home that is torn by alcohol, abuse, lies, and war, Doug manages to escape to a different life. A life where he makes friends by delivering groceries, finds peace in painting birds, much like Audubon’s, and takes part in a play adaption of Jane Eyre, despite once being illiterate. Once again, I was in awe of the flowing prose, the well-described setting, and the beautiful pictures of Audubon’s birds, which were at the beginning of each chapter.  Okay for Now was just recently released, and I would not be at all surprised if it won a ton of awards once the book award season rolls around (the beginning of every year). 5.0 out of 5 stars

I have not read yet, but I do own, Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. Much like The Wednesday Wars and Okay for Now, it is historical fiction. I expect it to be just as enthralling, just as heart-warming as the other books that I have enjoyed by Gary D. Schmidt.

Finally, I would just like to say how much I love Gary D. Schmidt’s books as historical novels. While, they do touch on points in history such as the moon landing and Vietnam, Schmidt puts his characters first and foremost. His books are about how his characters react to different situations thrown at them and how they develop and mature. I would say his books are more coming-of-age than historical. Yes, the time period does play an important role, especially with education and the roles of woman and children in society, but the books pay close attention to the characters, instead of focusing all the attention on the historical events. I believe this is what makes Schmidt’s prose “flawless”. No, no quotations anymore. Flawless. Now that’s coming from me. Gary D. Schmidt’s prose is flawless.

It's Favorite Author Month!

Rick Riordan

For the month of May, it will be Favorite Author Month on The Bookshelf! After doing some research, I became very disappointed. There's Favorite Book Month, Banned Books Week, Children Book Month, and Literacy Month, but there is no Favorite Author Month. I believe a Favorite Author(s) Month should be created because without authors, where are the books? Authors deserve recognition for the hard work and thought process that they put into their books!

Neal Shusterman

I thought May would be a great month to honor the favorite authors of mine, because it is also my Blogiversary Month (blogiversary - cool word, huh?) All this month I will be writing reviews and recommendations of books written by my favorite authors. Some of my favorites include Neal Shusterman, Ally Condie, Suzanne Collins, Gary D. Schmidt, Rick Riordan, Markus Zusak, John Green, Jackson Pearce, and Maggie Stiefvater.You can see their pictures scattered around this post. I though the best way to draw attention to these marvelous writers would be to create reviews that will not only praise their books, but also praise them as authors and individuals, too.

Ally Condie

Wondering how you, the readers of The Bookshelf, can celebrate Favorite Authors Month, too? It's easy:  Read your favorite books, visit the websites/blogs of your favorite authors, tell friends about the best books you've ever read, buy a new book by one of your favorite authors (authors benefit financially and spiritually when they see their fans purchasing their books), visit the library and ask the librarian for books similar to those that you enjoy, post about some of your favorite books right here on The Bookshelf in the comment section! The possibilities are endless! Just have fun and enjoy the books that you are reading. And when you're thinking, "Wow! This book is amazing!", remember the author, and just think about what an incredible person this must be to have written such a stellar book!

Because that's what Favorite Author Month is all about: reading and discovering favorite books and being so happy that someone, an author, put a certain story down on paper for the whole world to read.

What's Happening this Month?

Attention, attention! All readers near and far get ready, because The Bookshelf, on May 16th, will be turning one-year-old! I am so proud of all the progress that The Bookshelf, and I, have made. Looking at previous posts from last year, I can see how much I've grown and developed compared to newer, more recent posts. I have discovered amazing books, enhanced my writing skills, and have developed an (even) greater respect for literature. But most importantly, I believe I am starting to complete my goal: to inform the world of great books.

I am receiving more and more page views, from twenty plus countries, I am reaching out to people on different ends of the globe, I am discovering what a huge world it truly is out there, and how the people of that world can meet together and share and discuss and seek on one simple book blog. The Bookshelf is slowly, but steadily, becoming one of these meeting places. I am proud, and I am in awestruck of all of the book lovers, young, old, new, shy, loud, and all of the different literature they like, fiction, non-, realistic, fantasy, mystery, romance, poetry. For it is not me or the web or even books that keep this blog alive. It is the readers, the viewers, the commenters, the praise"ers", and the criticizers that keep this blog alive and thriving.

Thank you.

There will be many posts special just to The Bookshelf and me this month. Look forward to reviews/recommendations of Gary D. Schmidt, a favorite author of mine, a review of The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan, another favorite author, a review of Unwind by Neal Shusterman, yet another (no surprise!) favorite author, and I'm sure a few more reviews of spectacular books. (Maybe I'll make this month favorite authors month. Hmmm...) Also on the horizon: part 2 of last year's Stats, a new poll featuring graphic novels (aka, comic books!), and, most endearing to me, a poem-ish post on May 16th about all that happened in one year.

There you have it! May will most certainly be a historical month for The Bookshelf! Once again, thank you to all my readers, and I hope that I will continue to post here for quite some time.

- Jacob Hopkins

(image courtesy of Donna Hopkins, PatchWork Photos)