The Creative Cornucopia

Summary

Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words–and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps.” Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

Admittedly, I’m not into romance, but this was one of the best books I’ve read. It deals with heavy topics such as potential suicide, depression, smoking, drug use, drinking, etc., and also includes a very light sex scene. For all that you may shy away from these subjects though, I would encourage everyone to try this book. It was extremely eye-opening and felt more real than many other books I’ve read.

Summary

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

This book was SO GOOD! (you’ll notice the last book was by the same author, she’s a favorite now..) Anyway, this book really captured my attention, it’s really easy to feel like you’re trapped in Maddy’s house right along with her. This book deals with mental issues, teenage love, and entrapment/freedom. There is a short sex scene, however, it doesn’t get terribly descriptive, and should be easy to skip. Yes, I know the movie is coming out soon, don’t watch it, read this first. It’ll be worth your while. I finished this in about 3-4 hours; it’s one of those books :) 

Summary

Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.

Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.

The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?

This was an amazing book, I just finished it and now I want to read other books from this author. Almost the entire book takes place in one day, switching between different point of views. Something I really enjoyed was, it showed the perspective of people outside the main story, and how their actions affected others, and how that led to new events. It was a good love story, too :)

Summary

Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires. And he enjoyed his job. He had been a fireman for ten years, and he had never questioned the pleasure of the midnight runs nor the joy of watching pages consumed by flames...never questioned anything until he met a seventeen-year-old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid. Then Guy Montag met a professor who told him of a future in which people could think. And Guy Montag suddenly realized what he had to do...

Even though this book was written in 1953, it’s been somewhat prophetic. It’s relevant to today in many ways, and it makes you think about things differently. It has an intriguing story, and an interesting message!

Summary

What if you could live multiple lives simultaneously, have constant, perfect companionship, and never die? That’s the promise of Join, a revolutionary technology that allows small groups of minds to unite, forming a single consciousness that experiences the world through multiple bodies. But as two best friends discover, the light of that miracle may be blinding the world to its horrors.

Chance and Leap are jolted out of their professional routines by a terrifying stranger--a remorseless killer who freely manipulates the networks that regulate life in the post-Join world. Their quest for answers--and survival--brings them from the networks and spire communities they’ve known to the scarred heart of an environmentally ravaged North American continent and an underground community of the “ferals” left behind by the rush of technology.

In the storytelling tradition of classic speculative fiction from writers like David Mitchell and Michael Chabon, Join offers a pulse-pounding story that poses the largest possible questions: How long can human life be sustained on our planet in the face of environmental catastrophe? What does it mean to be human, and what happens when humanity takes the next step in its evolution? If the individual mind becomes obsolete, what have we lost and gained, and what is still worth fighting for?

This book really forced me to actually think. It had a lot of interesting questions about humanity, and didn’t shy away from harder topics. It can be a little bit confusing at first, but the moment things click, it becomes really inspiring.

Summary

Eve has a new home, a new face, and a new name--but no memories of her past. She's been told that she's in a witness protection program. That she escaped a dangerous magic-wielding serial killer who still hunts her. The only thing she knows for sure is that there is something horrifying in her memories the people hiding her want to access--and there is nothing they won't say--or do--to her to get her to remember.

At night she dreams of a tattered carnival tent and buttons being sewn into her skin. But during the day, she shelves books at the local library, trying to not let anyone know that she can do things -- things like change the color of her eyes or walk through walls. When she does use her strange powers, she blacks out and is drawn into terrifying visions, returning to find that days or weeks have passed--and she's lost all short-term memories. Eve must find out who and what she really is before the killer finds her--but the truth may be more dangerous than anyone could have ever imagined.

A wonderfully written book, I loved the imagery throughout, and the strange ideas that seem more like a “dream world” actually come to life! Strange but amazing concept, I loved it. :)

~IL