A to Z April: S Reviews - Strangers by Dean Koontz/Summer to Die by Lois Lowry/Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley

Since there were soooooo many books that started with the letter S, it was really hard to narrow it down to just two to review today. So I'm going to do three that are ones that I just couldn't give up on as I tried to decide.  The first is one of my all time favorite Dean Koontz books.  The next one is one of the books I read as a teen over and over.  And the last one is a sequel to Gone with the Wind, one of my favorite all time books ever since high school.

First is Strangers by Dean Koontz.  I read this book over and over, even at over 700 pages, I could read through it in a day or two because of what a good read it was.  It is a UFO type of story.  There are bits that make you think of the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but all in all it is just one of Koontz's great earlier stories.  Here is the blurb from Goodreads:
A surgeon, a writer, a motel-keeper, a priest and a thief; they have nothing in common - nothing but one hot summer night at the Tranquillity Motel: a night filled with unending terror; a night when an awesome power stripped them of their memories.

Now the evil is creeping back into their minds. Slowly, tauntingly, maddeningly, they are recalling the unspeakable events of that fateful moonlit evening. And as the vision of evil grows clearer, the guests of the Tranquillity Motel seek each other out. Some of them will not live to face the power head on. But some will - in a terror-packed climax unlike anything ever experienced before...

Second is A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry.  It's one of her sad teen stories that she wrote so many of.  It's not at all a dystopian story like The Giver.  This is about a girl who gets leukemia and how her family deals with it.  I don't know if I can put my finger on all the little things that have influenced my life from this book, but there are many.  Here is the blurb from Goodreads:
Meg isn't thrilled when she gets stuck sharing a bedroom with her older sister Molly. The two of them couldn't be more different, and it's hard for Meg to hide her resentment of Molly's beauty and easy popularity. But now that the family has moved to a small house in the country, Meg has a lot to accept.

Just as the sisters begin to adjust to their new home, Meg feels that Molly is starting up again by being a real nuisance. But Molly's constant grouchiness, changing appearance, and other complaints are not just part of a new mood. And the day Molly is rushed to the hospital, Meg has to accept that there is something terribly wrong with her sister. That's the day Meg's world changes forever. Is it too late for Meg to show what she really feels?

The last book I want to talk about today is Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley.  When this book came out I devoured it.  Shortly after the book was out, they made a mini-series for tv of it.  And while it was okay, it skipped some of the parts I loved about the book. But isn't that how it always is?  This book picks up after Rhett left Scarlett.  It includes her taking a trip to Ireland to be with her father's side of the family.  She finds out that Rhett seems to be done with her when she went back to try to get him back.  Her mother's family demands she has nothing to do with her father's family, it all leads to her trip to Ireland, along with a new romance, one that soon turns into a murder, that Scarlett will be blamed for.  Here is the pretty nondescript blurb from Goodreads:
The timeless tale continues... The most popular and beloved American historical novel ever written, Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind is unparalleled in its portrayal of men and women at once larger than life but as real as ourselves. Now bestselling writer Alexandra Ripley brings us back to Tara and reintroduces us to the characters we remember so well: Rhett, Ashley, Mammy, Suellen, Aunt Pittypat, and, of course, Scarlett. As the classic story, first told over half a century ago, moves forward, the greatest love affair in all fiction is reignited; amidst heartbreak and joy, the endless, consuming passion between Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler reaches its startling culmination. Rich with surprises at every turn and new emotional, breathtaking adventures, Scarlett satisfies our longing to reenter the world of Gone With the Wind, and like its predecessor, Scarlett will find an eternal place in our hearts.

Talking about all three of these has made me want to read them again!  So tell me, are you a Dean Koontz reader?  If so, have you read this one?  Did you read Lois Lowry as a teen?  And have you read this sequel to Gone With the Wind?

While you're here, be sure to enter the giveaway that is going along with my A to Z challenge!

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A to Z April - Letter D: Dystopia

 

For the letter D, I've chosen a genre (not sure if that's the correct term for that) of literature that is currently very popular, and is one that is one of my favorites.  I will share five of my favorite dystopian series today.

1.  The Giver Series by Lois Lowry

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I had read all of them, and then got an ARC of the 4th book, Son, when I went to BEA 2 years ago.  I'm sorry to say I have yet to read it though.  I saw that they are doing a movie, and I'm excited, although from the preview I saw, it doesn't match what I saw in my head when I read The Giver.  Looks like I'll be doing a re-read of that in the near future.

2.  The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins:

I first learned of this book when I read it for the state library association book award list.  I loved The Hunger Games so much that I began teaching it in a class we had every day that was for enrichment.  Now, I think because I did that, the first movie was a big disappointment to me. So much left out.  However since I hadn't read the second book, Catching Fire, more than 2 or 3 times, and it had been a while, I was able to enjoy the 2nd movie more.

3.  Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth:

This is a series that I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of the first book.  But then, I didn't get one of the 2nd book, and didn't get it until two months after it was published.  So while I got a bit behind between one and two, when number three came out, I bought it on the publishing date (which happened to be my birthday last year), and read it right away!  Also, LOVED the first movie, I think they did a really good job compared to how some movies from books have been done lately.

4.  Matched Trilogy by Ally Condie:

This is a book that I also got an ARC of the first in the series, but then had to wait till the books were published to read on.  I LOVED the first one, the 2nd one was okay, and the third was maybe a bit long for me.

5.  The Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix:

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I can't remember for sure when I read this series, and yes, it is a bit younger than the others, but it is a really good series, and Margaret Peterson Haddix is one of my favorite authors.  I have the picture on the left showing all the books, and then the one on the right is one I found when searching for images to use for this post.  I like the cover of it a bit better, I think it would be more appealing to kids today, maybe make them not see it as such a young book and give it a chance.

Are you a dystopia fan?  I haven't listed here all the ones I've read, just chose the top five, and the top five that all of the books in the series are out and I have read, well except for the The Giver series I mean. 

And hey, while you're here, go enter my giveaway on the Fool for Books Giveaway Hop.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I was doing so well this month with basically one post a day, then, Sunday, and I got sick.  So sick that I didn't even want to read, and anyone who knows me knows that means I am REALLY sick.  But normally I'm only sick for a day, then am doing better the next day.  And that's what I thought yesterday, so I got up, went to a check up doctor appointment having nothing to do with my being sick the day before, had donut holes at Dunkin Donuts for breakfast, nothing for lunch, then went ahead and went to work at the bookstore.  I thought I was doing good in my dinner choice, egg drop soup, similar to chicken noodle, right?  But I did also get crab rangoon, probably not the best choice in retrospect.  About 2 hours before closing, my stomach started acting up again, and once I got home, I spent all last night sick again.  And so, I'm behind on both reading and blogging.  But, feeling better yesterday, I did finish The Fault in Our Stars and so now I am blogging about it.  I did get this book last summer at BEA as well, so it is yet another one I waited a while to read, not sure why.
I have a feeling a lot of people may not agree with my review of this.  Once again I feel that a book was built up by other people so much, that when I got around to reading it, I basically knew what was going to happen, and while it was good, it didn't blow me away as I had really high expectations.  So let me start out by saying that this was a really good book.  John Green is an awesome author.  To be able to make the reader laugh out loud in such a depressing story/world, is good writing, good storytelling, in my book.  But while I wouldn't say it was predictable, I wouldn't say I was really surprised by anything that happened in the book.  Again, possibly because of all the build up, and being told how sad it would be.  Is it sad, yeah, it can cause you to use a box of tissues.  But as things happened, I was kind of prepared, kind of figured those things would happen. Although I must admit, some of that is probably from the actual foreshadowing I feel the author did within the story.  Here's my quick summary:

The main character is Hazel, she has terminal cancer.  There is no cure for her, only ways to extend her life.  In fact she must have oxygen with her at all time because her lungs don't work that well.  She goes to a support group where she meets Augustus.  Augustus is really cute.  He is supposedly in remission, but lost a leg to his type of cancer.  He is there with his friend Isaac, also a teen with cancer.  Isaac has lost one eye, and when we meet him in the story, it is possible he may have to lose the other eye.  Hazel and Augustus seem to click right away.  And Augustus is really a funny guy, and he likes that Hazel is the way she is, she's not all, "poor me, how am I ever going to leave a mark in this world."  She turns Augustus onto this book she loves, An Imperial Affliction, which is about a girl named Anna who also is sick, and the books just ends in the middle of a sentence.  What Hazel likes so much about it is that it totally gets how she feels about it and what it is like having cancer.  She wants so much to know what happens next, to the other characters in the book, as she knows what happens to Anna.  But, the author is reclusive, and even though she's written many letters, he's never answered.  Augustus has her read a novel that has to do with the video game he likes to play, and she does get swept up into those.  And he gets really into her book, as they shorten it to, AIA.  And he does the crazy thing and emails the author, and gets an answer from his publicist.  Which leads to them attempting to go visit him, from a supposed invitation from him and his publicist.  But of course there are things that get in the way. Relapses or lung problems for Hazel just to start with.  Hazel tries to keep space between herself and Augustus, not wanting to hurt him when she dies, as he is the "healthy" one in the relationship.  I won't go on with any spoilers.  Just know that their love is a true one, and their saying, "Okay? Okay", is a sweet one, and you will really hope for a relationship like this in your life.  Well, without all the tragedy of cancer and all that.  A great story, ending kind of how I thought it would, but not in a bad way.
I will say that one of my all time favorite books is A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry.  The copy I have from when I was younger is tattered and dog-eared from me reading it over and over. So I know a sad story from a sad story.  And I wasn't surprised by what happened probably because of that.  But this book is one that could rate up in the same place in my bookshelf as the Lowry book because of enjoying the back and forth between Hazel and Augustus.  You do need to read it.  I'm sorry my review isn't as glowing as others, it is a really good book.  Again, I believe my less than stellar review has to do with my being so over built up for a superbly unique story.  Which for many people I believe it will be!  So don't let me steer you away, just go into it with no expectations, and you'll do nothing but enjoy (if crying is enjoyment to you :-).