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Powell's Staff:
Five Book Friday: In Memoriam
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Every year, the booksellers at Powell’s submit their Top Fives: their five favorite books that were released in 2023. It’s a list that, when put together, shows just how varied and interesting the book tastes of Powell’s booksellers are. I highly recommend digging into the recommendations — we would never lead you astray — but today...
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Brontez Purnell:
Powell’s Q&A: Brontez Purnell, author of ‘Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt’
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Rachael P.:
Starter Pack: Where to Begin with Ursula K. Le Guin
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Customer Comments
Catie has commented on (8) products
Accomplice
by
Eireann Corrigan
Catie
, January 08, 2019
Honestly, I was pretty disappointed by this book. First off, I’m not even sure if I liked the twist ending or not. The ending was mostly unsatisfactory, and honestly just made me really upset with Finn and Chloe. It was like the author threw us a little bone (the "twist") and figured it would fix everything else. And it definitely didn’t make up for the fact that most of this book was just bleh. I thought the plot was semi original, and if we’re being honest, somewhat relatable. As a recent high school graduate, I was able to empathize a lot with the girls’ worries- that all their extra curricular activities and good grades wouldn’t be enough to get them into the college they wanted.. !!except that they didn’t even know what college they were shooting for!!. I can’t think of a single time that either Chloe or Finn actually mentioned a college they were interested in besides saying something like "just not the local one". The writing was okay, and I think the author captured the guilt and anguish Finn was experiencing pretty well. The high school atmosphere was represented accurately, which I appreciated. As another reviewer noted, though, a lot of the author’s similes were weird and didn’t really match what I think they were trying to get across. In short— I was mostly disappointed, but it was a semi interesting read. Not terrible, but not great.
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Heartless
by
Marissa Meyer
Catie
, April 01, 2018
I originally borrowed this book from the library, but as soon as it comes out in paperback, I’m going to get my own copy so I can treasure it forever-- I loved it that much. I can see how some readers would find the book slow in the start, as it took a while to see any correlation to Wonderland. That being said, I did still enjoy the storyline in the beginning of the book. By the time the book finishes, “Heartless” is such a beautiful expansion of the world that Lewis Carroll created. Per usual, Meyer delivers incredible plot twists… there were a couple chapters where I just sat in shock for a few minutes after I finished. I always love Meyer’s characters! They’re so authentic and lovable and always an aspect of her books I look forward to. This book was no different; I became so emotionally attached to the characters. I got worried and nervous and fearful and angry right along with Cath. And Jest- I totally fell in love with him right from the start. I absolutely adored the banter between Cath and Jest. I couldn’t get enough of it! The only downside I found was how irritating Cath could be when she didn’t stand up for herself- I realize that makes her more relatable and authentic, especially in terms of (as another review put it) "Victorian-era style oppression", but it also bothers me when people in real life don’t stand up for themselves. Plus, the king was super spineless and weak. I understand why he was portrayed that way, but it was still mildly irritating.
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Vault of Dreamers 01
by
Caragh M OBrien
Catie
, March 31, 2018
Throughout the story, the reader navigates the twists and turns of new campus life with Rosie Sinclair. Rosie followed her passion for filmmaking to the popular school, but has a difficult time playing by the rules of the game- ones that everyone else seem to understand effortlessly. She has to juggle the challenging schoolwork and interacting with her peers, all while learning tricks of the reality show trade. She struggles to resolve her inner turmoil in a way that won’t draw attention or reflect on camera. Not only does Rosie need her viewers to enjoy her broadcasted school experience to boost her blip rank, she also has to ensure that the school’s supervisors aren’t aware of her internal conflicts. After all, it’s difficult to investigate a hunch if the people involved know she is becoming suspicious. O’Brien does a fantastic job balancing all of these aspects of the plot so that it doesn’t overwhelm the reader, but, instead, makes them realize how stressful student life at The Forge School can be. Rosie herself is a continuously evolving character that we get to see grow, both through flashbacks and events as they unfold. The average reader can easily relate to her; oftentimes, Rosie’s words are taken out of context or misinterpreted, which leads to fights and miscommunication. She is a strong believer in standing up for those who cannot stand up for themselves, which is a recurring theme in the book. Rosie’s outspokenness is quite refreshing- her retorts seem to be the inner retaliation we all possess and rarely access. She is an extremely complex character; the audience will probably find themselves wondering how reliable of a narrator she is, and this is something that O’Brien toys with magnificently. O’Brien will successfully strip down everything you thought you knew about Rosie and her perspective and involvement with certain events and rebuild them in an entirely new way. Along with Rosie, the readers discover that one of the hardest things in her setting is discerning the integrity of what is said on camera- who is being honest and who is putting on a show? Even when life isn’t constantly being filmed, this is an important message to take to heart. While there are some types of people that always want to see the best in others, that may not be the best idea- learning how to detect more unbelievable stories and finding people who can be authentic are imperative in building long-lasting relationships, platonic or otherwise. “Vault of Dreamers” is a fresh and millennial-appropriate take on reality television, and what it means to be popular in high school. It also allows readers to re-evaluate certain moral standards, such as what privacy actually entails and where lines should be drawn. It will definitely be a book you can’t put down.
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Pulse
by
Patrick Carman
Catie
, March 31, 2018
I was really excited about this book, partly because of how much I loved Carman's other book, "Trackers", when I was younger, partly because the blurb was really intriguing, and partly because I love dystopian/futuristic YA novels. Let me just say that this book did not come even remotely close to meeting my expectations. There were a lot of aspects of this book that I thought were lacking excellence. One of the biggest things, for me, was a startling absence of continuity. Throughout the entire book, the sentences felt choppy and they didn't fit together smoothly, which really irked me. Another major part of the book's flaws included the point of view. Told with an omniscient narrator, I strongly felt that Carman focused on too many people at the same time. This led to him delving into the history of some characters whom would have been better just left alone; he took characters that would've been better, in my opinion, as flat characters and turned them into round characters. My attention was divided between more than a handful of characters, which made it difficult for me to focus on all of them. It also took the author a long time to reach the story's events that are featured on the blurb. The prior events were some much-needed exposition and rising action, but probably could've been shortened to reach the blurb more quickly. One of the characters featured in the excerpt didn't really come into play until quite late in the story, and was shown only in the background. However, I think showcasing this character in the blurb was a mistake on Carman's part because I lost a lot of the mystery and tension I would've experienced, had I not been told they were important. Even the fact the Faith has a pulse wasn't reached until this point in the story. There were a lot of other downfalls, but I'll stop here to highlight some more positive parts. I did really enjoy the plot idea itself, even if I didn't appreciate the way it was executed. Furthermore, the society he created is interesting (albeit explained in a confusing manner). These few things were the only reason I rated the book two stars instead of only one star.
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Great Library 01 Ink & Bone
by
Rachel Caine
Catie
, March 31, 2018
This book had somewhat of a slow start, and the setting and new terminology took a little bit of work to keep up with, but the concept was brilliant! Caine developed what I imagine was probably just a fleeting thought (what if the Great Library of Alexandria had survived?) into a layered, complex world and culture. I found "Ink and Bone" to be thoroughly enjoyable, and full of good twists that were hinted at just enough that I started to catch on and they weren't out of the blue, but not too much that I could call the plot twists. Caine also took this opportunity to discuss some really deep themes. Her teenage characters were believable, and many of them were strong women and accurately portrayed the variance that can exist between different people, especially in groups. The characters underwent character arcs, and, although I felt at times there were quite a few to keep track of, Caine handled it well. Each character had their own chance to grow in complexity, thus more realistic and relatable, which I appreciated. I also love Caine's decision to include messages/letters between characters; they were a genius method of foreshadowing the plot and providing other subtle clues to conflicts yet to be explained.
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Beauty & the Beast Lost in a Book
by
Jennifer Donnelly
Catie
, March 31, 2018
I had really high expectations for this book, and it didn't live up to it. While I thought the basic plot of this story was a creative idea, and was a feasible fit for the story of Beauty and the Beast, I simply don't think it was executed well. I really wanted to like it, but I was really only mildly entertained. The characters weren't given a chance to gather depth and, to me, remained flat characters. While their inner conflicts were mentioned, they were explored in an almost child-like manner- fluffy and unrealistic. I didn't get to experience Belle's angst or her dissonance beyond not knowing what to do, limited insight to her thoughts, and cliche descriptions (like "heavy heart"). Donnelly really stuck with a more fairy-tale black and white kind of approach; which is fine and definitely wasn't bad, just not what I was expecting and, thus, unsatisfactory. Although "Lost in a Book" is categorized as Young Adult, it really felt middle-grade at best. All that being said, the ideas and plot were good! I loved being able to see the beloved Beauty and the Beast characters in what felt like "cut" scenes (one of my favorite parts of retellings). The whole idea of disappearing into a book, while not particularly original, definitely has a place within Belle's realm of interests. It seems believable to me that the gist of this story could've actually taken place in the original fairytale. And the personification of Love and Death, which provided more of a backstory to the Beast's curse, was very clever and I was enticed by that depiction. Overall, I only rated it 3/5 stars; it was an okay book but I wouldn't read it again, and my anticipation was founded in different expectations.
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Maze Runner 01
by
James Dashner
Catie
, March 31, 2018
When I read this the first time in 2014, I was 14, and I loved it! I've always looked at the series adoringly on my bookshelf and I gave it 5 stars back then. But now... I'm just disappointed. I found myself becoming so irritated with Thomas and the rest of the main characters. Thomas was explicitly described as a sixteen-year old, but the style of his narration made him seem more like twelve. It felt like a really inaccurate depiction of how a sixteen year old boy would actually be thinking and, no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get over it. The plot was confusing (this applies to the whole series) and didn't seem that well thought out. The amount of back and forth, are they lying, are they not, oh they were but did it to protect them, oh they were lying about the fact they were lying... you get the point. I became annoyed very quickly with this whole debacle, so, considering it's a major aspect of all the books, that wasn't good. I understand that Dashner was probably trying to give the plot layers and make it more complex, but I just wasn't feeling it. I'm not sure if it's because the narration wasn't convincing enough or because everyone acted out of character all the time that it became the new normal. That being said, I love the original concept of this world that Dashner created, but I don't think it was executed well enough. The movies, on the other hand, I absolutely adored. The movie crew/script/director/etc made the characters much more likeable and removed all the characteristics that annoyed me or seemed out of place. They made countless changes to the plot, and I agreed with almost all of them. As a bookworm, this sort of thing is so rare for me (in fact, this might be the only time I have ever liked a movie adaptation more than the books), so I don't say any of this lightly!! Plus, I do love me some Dylan O'Brien and Thomas Sangster... In short, my re-read was okay, but I was really dragging my feet the whole time. The only reason I didn't give up was because I loved the movies so much and clearly I loved the series when I was younger. Overall, though: disappointed.
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13th Reality 01 Journal of Curious Letters
by
James Dashner
Catie
, March 07, 2016
This is one of my absolute favorite series, but, of course, that's a given since I love anything and everything by James Dashner. I feel like this is one of his lesser-know series, mostly because when you mention James Dashner, people usually almost immediately think of The Maze Runner. It's a fascinating story, however, and Dashner eloquently weaved a beautiful new version of our world. Even though he has to explain some new terminology (which will make sense the farther into the book you go), you don't feel overloaded with new information. Plus, it's a lengthy read (about five hundred pages, if I remember right- which I love) that doesn't feel as if it is slowing down near the end- all the pages are jam-packed with action and you won't want to put it down. It's definitely a must-read.
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