Top Ten Tuesday: Traveling in a BookCase

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

TOP FAVORITE BOOKS THAT TOOK ME AWAY

New Moon: Thanks to Edward's suicide attempt, we got to visit Italy. Not long enough to enjoy a pizza, but hey, a trip is a trip.

Twenty Boy Summer: The girls spent a summer in Zanzibar, enjoying the beach and meeting up boys. 

Blood Promise: Setting off to Russia to kill the man you love doesn't sound much like a vacation. Still...a trip is a trip.

Die For Me: Hello Paris. City of lights, of love.. Hmm, my kind of city. 

Meant to Be: We get to visit museums, sleep in small hotel rooms and enjoy fish and chips. Yummy. 

Heart and Salsa: Haven't read many books from this S.A.S.S (Students across the seas) series, but I do love the way they all take place in different countries. 

Review: American Born Chinese

Coming from a mixed background, I often felt closer to one over the other and resented when people said: "but you are both." Why couldn't I chose who I wanted to be? 

In American Born Chinese, we meet Jin Wang, a chinese boy who doesn't want to be considered anything else but American. Kids are cruel to him and his Asian friends, and I don't blame him for not feeling safe in his skin. But the best thing about growing up is learning how to love yourself for who you are. Will Jin Wang learn this lesson before it's too late?

The story was very well paced, overlapping the three unrelated characters without drowning us with too much information.  The dialogue felt real, even in the case of Chin-Kee, whom Gene Luen Yang portrayed as the ultimate Chinese stereotype. Chin-Kee didn't make us laugh of mockery but rather feel for him every time his cousin Danny shuddered at his presence. 

So in case you are feeling like you need to erase your cultural background remember that: "It's easy to become anything you wish ... so long as you are willing to forfeit your soul."

Also by Luen Yang

Level Up

Caught my arrow # 16

Caught my Arrow is a meme similar to In my mailbox and  Stalking the Shelves featuring books that were purchased, borrowed or received that week.

I'm up for some tragic reads this week. Lots of tissues.

I borrowed Shine from the library

Plus received a copie of The S-Word and Promise Me Something from Netgalley

What are you reading this week?

Feature and Follow Friday: Happy Birthday

Parajunkee / Alison Can Read

FEATURE & FOLLOW FRIDAY

Once you answer be sure to leave me your link so I can follow you back

Q: The FF is 150 weeks old! And we want to hear from you! What would you change about the hop? What do you like about it? Or just suggest a question to be used for next week! 

Think, think, think...

At the risk of sounding decaffeinated, I wouldn't change anything. The questions are never redundant, and the bloggers who participate do follow back. I've never seen such a great meme community.

Here's to 150 weeks and many more to come.

Suggest a question: What love triangle drove you crazy, turning the pages at the speed of light?

Review: Crash

Final Destination meets Romeo and Juliet in Lisa Mcmann's Crash, but fails to rival either story. 

The book opens with Jules having a vision of her crush, Sawyer Angotti, getting killed in a restaurant explosion. Then, she has it again. And again. And again....

The first half dragged with her unable to tell Sawyer or even admitting to herself that what she was seeing, was real. Partly because of the mental illness history in her family, and partly because she likes him. No girl wants to look foolish in front of mister right. I get that.

But half into the book, we were still being fed the same dialogue.  And to make matters worse, Mcmann's uses incomprehensible swear words, limiting the love story to a PG10 rating. 

Hopefully, the sequel will provide us with a bigger climax.  

Also by Lisa McMann

Dead to You