Mr+J's+favourites

Inspired by the Readers Cup Film Festival I have borrowed A ghost in my suitcase by Gabrielle Wang and When you reach me by Rebecca Stead for my holiday reading


 * I am reading Kraken by China Mieville [[image:mieville_kraken_uk.jpg align="left"]]**


 * [|The Passage by Justin Cronin][[image:http://www.readings.com.au/covers/thumb/9780752897851.jpg?1274761513 align="left" link="http://www.readings.com.au/product/9780752897851/justin-cronin-the-passage"]] I loved this book which is for senior readers or really keen fans of the Dystopian Fiction or Vampire Genres.**


 * Going Bovine by Libba Bray**



When Cameron finds out he's sick and going to die, he embarks on the mother of all road trips through a twisted America to find out how to live and what matters most. Read more of this review

I am so over vampires....zombies are in and here is a great book about children under seige from sick adults who want to eat them.... =The Enemy by Charlie Higson= The Sunday Times review by Nicolette Jones

A typical sentence in Higson’s compelling thriller, about a world in which everyone over 14 has caught a horrible disfiguring disease, gone mad and developed an appetite for eating children, goes thus: “She punched him so hard that his boils exploded and half his face fell away.” This story involves lots of pus, blood and nasty injuries, in a series of clashes between near-feral children and even more feral grown-ups. Set in London, from Archway Pool and the Holloway Road Waitrose to Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London, it follows a band of children trying to survive under repeated attack from slow-witted, drooling, cannibal adults. It is great at adrenaline-inducing conflict, and as yucky as could be wished for. Written in a pacey vernacular, with such phrases as “well dead” and “bare evil” (ie, “really evil”), it is just the thing for youngsters who enjoy Fungus the Bogeyman, the London Dungeon and World of Warcraft computer games and are getting a taste for horror films. Among all the gore and action there are memorable characters, including convincing and courageous girls. It also explores how society might be organised, the dangers of political ambition and values such as loyalty, and even suggests that bookish thoughtfulness makes better leaders of men than knee-jerk aggression.
 * Age 11-14**

find out more here on the official website. I can't wait for the follow up []





Mary Doria Russell's first novel, //The Sparrow//, tells the story of Emilio Sandoz, a Puerto Rican Jesuit priest, and his circle of friends. On the surface, hardly a novel which could be classified as science fiction. However, there is a long tradition of religion in science fiction, including the Jesuit Ramon Ruiz-Sanchez in James Blish's //A Case of Conscience//.

Russell's novel is told in two time frames. The first begins in the year 2059, when a physically mutilated and spiritually devalued Emilio Sandoz is recovering from his trip to the planet Rakhat in a Jesuit mission. Although Sandoz has the knowledge of his actually trip and his keepers, Father General Giuliani, and Brother Ed Behr and Father John Candotti, have knowledge of the time passed on Earth, Russell only reveals all this information to the reader slowly, leaving the reader to draw their own conclusions from partial knowledge as the novel progresses. Read more of Steven Silvers review here

Hunger by Michael Grant I have just finished Hunger and loved this follow on to Gone**.** and now we have the third in the Trilogy Lies
 * '**Things aren’t getting any easier in the FAYZ (Fall-out Alley Youth Zone) since the big Thanksgiving Battle against Caine and the other Coates Academy kids. In fact, everything seems to be going from bad to worse. Sam, the appointed leader of Perdido Beach, is feeling the pressure of all the day to day decisions. The biggest problem that everyone is facing is starvation.' More here


 * Liar by Justine Larbalestier**

I loved Liar, this is a book with many twists and turns and surprises. Micah's boyfriend has gone missing suspected murdered. What role did Micah play in his demise? Can we believe a word she says, as she and her friends recover in the aftermath, and are subject to a police investigation. As we read the story we are reminded constantly that the story is being told by a self confessed liar who keeps on telling the reader that she is in fact telling the truth.


 * We love the Luxe books @olmclibrary. Here are reviews of the first two titles. We need reviews of Envy and Splendor. Here is a [|booktraile for Luxe]**


 * Luxe by Anna Godberson**

Luxe is set in Manhattan, 1899 and explores the world of the Holland sisters who have grown up in a world of wealth and luxury. As the family fortunes decline it falls to the older daughter, Elizabeth, to accept an unwanted marriage proposal. Her ‘best’ friend Penelope Clay is furious as she has an interest in Elizabeth’s fiancé Henry Schoonmaker, and the plot thickens when her younger sister falls love with him also.

Luxe is a great read and follows in the tradition of the great 19th century writers who explored these themes but it is written in a knowing 21st century style. Follow the twists and turns of this love triangle and be enthralled by the drama of a family who must marry off its daughters in order to keep their social position.

Rumours by Anna Godberson

This is the much anticipated follow up to Luxe which has just arrived in the Library. Elizabeth Holland is in California when word comes from her sister Dianna that their mother is ill. Dianna is floundering without her big sister to look after the family interests and is being groomed to marry her late father’s business partner whose intentions are not honourable. Henry Schoonmaker is trying to avoid marrying Penelope Clay. Will Henry and Dianna get together?

I agree, this is a really great read. It reminded me of Henry James' novel Portrait of a Lady. This is also about a beautiful young American woman, a bit like Emma from Jane Austen, who is determined not to marry. However, her life turns out quite differently from that she expected, largely because of her marriage.

Find out more aobut the Luxe books here []


 * Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist**

One day in Stockholm, Sweden, the lights go funny and the electricity goes off, everyone gets a migraine and the dead come alive, so far so Steven King. The novel looks at the impact the ‘reliving’ have on several families who have lost their loved ones who have come back but are not the same as they once were.

This is an engrossing ‘horror’ story which looks at how a society (the state) and individuals deal with an unnatural phenomenon.


 * **Gone by Michael Grant**

I loved this story about the day all the adults disappear and the remaining children have to look after themselves. Anarchy develops and the children split into factions without adults and teachers to sort them out. Chaos ensures as the older children desperately try to find out what is going on before they turn 15 and vanish as well. This is a great story about survival in a hostile environment. I can't wait for the sequel - read more here [] ||  ||   ||

This is a great story about a young girl who is aware that there is a great mystery regarding her own mother and father and the circumstances of her birth. Homeschooled by her father and living in a huge big house, Ariella does not get out much but when she does mayhem and murders follow. After the death of her new best friend, Ariella runs away from home determined to find her mother who disappeared on the day of her birth. She finds her mother and hopes to bring her parents together, but then finds out that her house has been sold and that her father has now disappeared. Will Ariella find her father and bring her parents back together…? Find out more about this book on the [|official website]
 * The Society of S by Susan Hubbard**