Author: abby mumford

who says you have to be crowded into the living room, kitchen, and/or dining room to hold a book club? we are ladies of the 21st century. we don’t need no stinkin’ couches. so pull up a blog and join in the conversation.

the members of the BOOK HUNGRY are (alphabetically): patty blount, kelly breakey, karla nellenbach, vanessa noble, alyson peterson, cynthia reese, elizabeth ryann, and myself. here’s the deal. we pick a book to read. we discuss via email. we post a review on our individual blogs on the same day (3rd thursday of the month). we link to each other. done. i know, genius. click on each one of their names (above) and it’ll take you to their review. browse. enjoy.

this month’s BOOK HUNGRY selection is:

THE HOST by stephenie meyer

a quick synopsis from amazon: Stephenie Meyer, creator of the phenomenal teen-vamp Twilight series, takes paranormal romance into alien territory in her first adult novel. Those wary of sci-fi or teen angst will be pleasantly surprised by this mature and imaginative thriller, propelled by equal parts action and emotion. A species of altruistic parasites has peacefully assumed control of the minds and bodies of most humans, but feisty Melanie Stryder won’t surrender her mind to the alien soul called Wanderer. Overwhelmed by Melanie’s memories of fellow resistor Jared, Wanderer yields to her body’s longing and sets off into the desert to find him. Likely the first love triangle involving just two bodies, it’s unabashedly romantic, and the characters (human and alien) genuinely endearing.

i’ve now read this book twice. once, when it first came out and second, just before i wrote this review. i will say this for meyer, she sure knows how to create memorable characters. as with the TWILIGHT series, her writing isn’t the most luxurious or profound, but her characters jump off the page and nestle into your brain and you’ll find yourself thinking about them long after you’ve put the book down.

the first time i read this, i read it right after i had finished the TWILIGHT series. in that series (this won’t be spoilery, promise), there is a lot of talk about souls and who has them and who doesn’t, so when i went from that discussion to THE HOST, where the main character is an alien called a soul and well, the juxtaposition was fascinating. from no soul to all soul. the second time i read this, i seemed to focus more on the alien, sci-fi feel of the soul. i read it as more similar to ET than a heavenly being and that left quite a different flavor in my mouth. or my brain. or umm, yeah, you know what i mean.

the first time i read this, i (unintentionally) focused on the author. it was her first book that wasn’t part of her massively successful series and i wanted to see how she fared. it’s a hefty book at 656 pages and i felt like i was reading for weeks. that’s a really long time to be more aware of the author instead of the story. the second time i read this, i got lost in the story. i zipped through the book in a couple of days and yet the characters, their choices, their actions, their environment stuck with me. i couldn’t stop thinking about them and what it all meant and what would i do if i was them (aliens or humans) and where can i get some of their medicine and how do the aliens really work and why is Wanderer considered bad ass when she’s so gentle and caring and is it because of Melanie’s body or because of her (Wanderer) having lived on seven other planets and what are intersecting love triangles called and are these aliens really making Earth a better place and is that really an ethical decision?  THIS was what i was expecting that first read.

the first and second times i read this, i thought, man this is long. where were the scissors? i think a lot of passages could be cut out trimming this book down to a more manageable size without jeopardizing the integrity of the story. but, silver lining, i could multitask while reading because it doubled as a dumbbell. bicep curls, anyone?

the first time i read this, i read it to see where the story ended up. the second time i read this, i was able to look around at the scenery, stop and smell the caves, and get to know the secondary characters in addition to the primary ones. the second read was much more fulfilling and a lot more fun. as i read, i’d stop and think “what if” which in the context of this book is a very scary and, surprisingly, exhilarating question.

in short, give this book a read. an intriguing journey awaits. it’d be a shame to miss it.

p.s. see you next month when we read NEVER LET ME GO by Kazuo Ishiguro.

//

as most of you already know, i read A LOT. i pretty much have to read every day or i become one cranky monkey. on the worst days, all i get to read is a page or two before i fall asleep. on the best days, i read until i reach the end. although, sometimes, reaching the end really sucks either because i don’t like the ending or because i’m sad the story is over.

here’s a list of books i’ve read this year in no particular order:

adult:

GODS IN ALABAMA by joshilyn jackson

BECOME YOUR OWN MATCHMAKER by patti stanger (yeah, that one worked out well for me.)

THE HELP by kathryn stockett (started this as an audio book, which i highly recommend because hearing the southern accent really influences how you read the rest of the book.)

NO PLOT? NO PROBLEM! by chris baty

BEAUTY by robin mckinley

THE HOST by stephenie meyer

LIFE AFTER YES by aidan donnelley rowley

ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL by james herriot

WHERE LOVE GROWS by cynthia reese

young adult:

*HUNGER GAMES, CATCHING FIRE, and MOCKINGJAY by suzanne collins

*INTO THE WILD NERD YONDER by julie halpern

GET WELL SOON by julie halpern

THE SECRET YEAR by jennifer hubbard

*IF I STAY by gayle forman

WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON by david levithan and john green

BREAK by hannah moskowitz

*THIRTEEN REASONS WHY by jay asher

*BEFORE I FALL by lauren oliver

SEA by heidi kling

THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE LANDAU-BANKS by e. lockhart

SISTERS RED by jackson pearce

ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS by stephanie perkins

PARANORMALCY by kiersten white

THE DUFF by kody keplinger

*THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO, *THE ASK AND THE ANSWER, *MOSTERS OF MEN by patrick ness

THE REPLACEMENT by brenna yovanoff

LINGER by maggie stievater

BALLAD, LAMENT by maggie stievater

GIRL PARTS by john cusick

ZOMBIES VS. UNICORNS, AN ANTHOLOGY edited by holly black and justine larbalestier

THE MOCKINGBIRDS by daisy whitney

YOU by charles benoit

HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT by natalie standiford

*LIAR by justine larbalestier

BRIGHTLY WOVEN by alexandra bracken

THE MAZE RUNNER by james dashner

*LOVE IS THE HIGHER LAW by david levithan

*THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE by jandy nelson

FLY GIRL by sherri l. smith

FALLEN by lauren kate

HUSH HUSH by becca fitzpatrick

MERMAID’S MIRROR by l.k. madigan

*FLASH BURNOUT by l.k. madigan

WHEN YOU REACH ME by rebecca stand

THE DARK DIVINE by bree despain

IF YOU COME SOFTLY by jacqueline woodson

LIPS TOUCH by laini taylor

FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH by carrie ryan

MAGIC UNDER GLASS by jaclyn dolamore

THE DARK DAYS OF HAMBURGER HALPIN by josh berk

BIRTHMARKED by caragh o’brien

RAMPANT by diana peterfreund (first book in series is ASCENDANT)

MORNING GLORY by diana peterfreund (which, incidentally, was written from the movie script, not the other way around. i didn’t know this was an option. pretty interesting turn of events. now i have to see the movie to compare to the book!)

middle grade:

*PRINCESS FOR HIRE by lindsey leavitt

CAMILLE MCPHEE FELL UNDER THE BUS by kristen tracy

THE VIEW FROM SATURDAY by e.l. konigsburg

IT’S RAINING CUPCAKES by lisa schroeder

*AS IF BEING 12 3/4 ISN’T BAD ENOUGH, MY MOTHER IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT by donna gephart

*THE CASE OF THE CASE OF THE MISTAKEN IDENTITY by mac barnett

8th GRADE SUPER ZERO by olugbemisola rhuday-perkovich

audiobooks:

INSATIABLE by meg cabot

*IF I STAY by gayle forman (danger alert)

THE HELP by kathryn stockett (first two chapters. it’s all i could download. don’t mind me and my technological difficulties.)

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALFBLOOD PRINCE by j.k. rowling

i’m sure i’m missing some and as you know, december’s not even over yet so my reading continues, but sheesh, when i write it down like that, it looks like i have no life and all i ever do is read. not that there’s anything wrong with that. but maybe all this reading is getting in the way of me writing… OR…. it is research helping me to understand the industry better. all i know is thank goodness for the cambridge public library because if i didn’t have that, i’d be buried under a pile of books instead of typing this blog post.

what have you read this year? this month? this week? see any books not on my list that are must reads? i’m always open to recommendations.

*denotes the books i LOVED.