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Hello everyone! I wanted to do a library book haul since I haven’t bought many books in the last few months. I have, however, recently been hired as a circulation attendant at my local library so here we are. It’s a fantastic job if you love to read. No, I do not sit and read all day because I know that’s everyone’s misconception of librarians. A lot more goes into the job than you think. Anyway, here are the 7 books I have checked out from my local library.

The first one I have to talk about and have started reading is Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson. This book is about a young female protagonist named Lee “Leah” Westfall, who has the ability to sense gold. This novel is set during the Gold Rush so you could see how this ability is a blessing and a curse. Her life then starts to fall apart and she makes her way west to California.

I am about 140 pages into the novel and I am loving it. It’s full of all these hardships that our main character goes through and there is never a dull moment for Lee or the reader. Rae Carson does very well writing the novel to seem like it was written during those times. Sometimes I do feel like she tried to hard to make it sound authentic but other than that it has been a fantastic read. I will keep everyone posted on my thoughts when I am finished reading it.

An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin is the next novel I checked out from the library. Yes, the author is the Steve Martin. This novel is just a fiction book that is “written” by a man named Daniel Franks that follows a woman named Lacey Yeager. This is a girl he just can’t seem to get out of his head. Lacey is ambitious enough to take on the art world of New York City. She works in a Sotheby’s, the worlds largest brokers of fine art as well as other fancy artifacts. As she climbs the social ladder it shows just how dark the art world becomes from the 1990’s and so on.

I have also started this novel and I am a little over 60 pages in. Can I just say that I never expected Steve Martin to write such a beautiful novel, especially about art! The words flow smoothly and the story is interesting. As a person that took art every year and every semester in high school I enjoy this book. If you want to know about art and you are just starting out I’m not sure this book would be for you. If you know a lot about art and just want to know a little bit more, this book is great. That said, if you just want to pick it up because it seems interesting to you, then all the power to you! It’s a beautiful book so far and I will also be doing another review on this book when it is finished.

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell is a book I checked out because I have heard mixed reviews about it. This is one of Rainbow Rowells adult books. This novel is about two women Beth and Jennifer that work for a newspaper. They are aware their emails are monitored but they continue to gossip over email. Lincoln O’Neill then becomes one of the internet security officers and ends up reading Beth and Jennifer’s emails. He realizes he starts falling for Beth but it may be too late to even say anything to her.

I have not started this novel, but I am excited to get to it. The good thing about working at the library is I get an extra week to have the books!

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders is a historical fiction book about President Lincoln’s son Willie who falls ill and dies. George then twists the story to show Willie in purgatory or the “Bardo.” It’s a transitional state before deciding where he goes. Willie comes across ghosts that gripe and mingle so to speak.

I have also started this book and I have only reached page 18. I don’t know if I’m ready for a historical fiction, but I just couldn’t get into it. I couldn’t understand what was happening even after reading the synopsis. I may put it down and pick it up sometime down the road. As of right now, not a fan. If you’re into historical fiction then I recommend picking this up.

The Cruelty by Scott Bergstrom is a young adult novel that follows Gwendolyn Bloom. Her father disappears and she decides to change her identity and find her father. It takes place in a world with a fair amount of spies, assassins and criminal masterminds. It’s all about her journey.

I have not started this book but I am excited to go along with Gwendolyn on her bad A journey!

The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti is about a young twelve-year-old male protagonist named Ren. Ren has lost his left hand but has no idea how or why. He is abandoned at an orphanage for boys and goes on a journey to find out who his parents are and what his life was like before. Benjamin Nab then enters his life claiming to be his brother and tells him a story of his parents. Ben convinces the orphanage to let Ren go to discover himself. It follows Ren and his adventure with scammers, thieves and even grave robbers!

I haven’t started this but it sounds like a novel that I haven’t really read before. This was a novel my boyfriend picked up at the library and asked me to read it so lets see where this goes.

Even the Dogs by Jon McGregor is a novel that follows multiple friends of a man who winds up dead in an abandoned apartment. It is all of their stories pieced together. It deals with drugs and distress. They live in a parallel world where they are out of reach from the outside world. When they all suddenly die they realize they were treated with more respect that when they were living their short lives.

This story sounded odd and when I was looking for one of his other books I came across this. I haven’t started it but I am very excited to see what that synopsis even means. I’ll definitely keep you all posted.

The last novel I checked out from the library is a recommendation from my co-worker, This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab. This is a fantasy that follows Kate Harker and August Flynn. Kate wants to be ruthless but she was in boarding school for five years and now that she’s released she wants to prove she can be just as ruthless as her father. August wants to be human but he’s stuck as a monster that steals souls with songs. The city they live in is divided and they are the only two that can understand both sides. They are the only two that can do anything about it.

I haven’t started this book but I have heard mixed reviews about it. I decided I would pick it up soon and give it a read. I will keep everyone posted!

Sorry this is a long post, but I wanted to give insight about the books I read. If you want to see other books I’m interested in you can visit my goodreads account as well as all my other social media. They are all linked at the top of my blog page.

Thank you for reading and don’t be afraid to tell me your opinions. No spoilers on any of these novels please!

Genre:

Young Adult Fiction

Summary:

This is a novel about the male protagonist, Henry Denton. He was supposedly abducted by aliens and told that he had 144 days to decide whether he wanted the world to end or not. It all came down to this button that he was either going to push or leave alone. Through the course of those 144 days he deals with love, loss, and figuring out who he is. He meets Diego Vega, an aspiring artist from Colorado that he doesn’t know much about, who could possibly change his mind about the world. It’s an emotional journey that deals with relationships between family, friends and possible love interests. Trigger: Towards the end of the novel there is a mention of possible rape. If that bothers you just know that going into the novel. It’s not a huge part but it is mentioned. There is also suicide mentioned quite a bit in the novel.

Narration:

This novel is written in first person narrative which is not so reliable in the end. Henry is in high school and because he’s dealing with a mother that smokes and is trying to keep the family from falling apart, a brother who dropped out of college and is planning on being a father, a grandmother who is losing her mind, and a boyfriend that has committed suicide. All of these different aspects of his life has made him go a little crazy and for awhile he wonders why it would matter if the world ended. We are never for sure if he is actually abducted by aliens or if it is just him trying to give an excuse to end his life as well. Therefore, we only see what he is thinking and how he supposes others are feeling but his mind is too jumbled.

Setting:

The book takes place in Florida where Henry lives. He is mainly at school or at home but there is a plethora of other significant places he takes us here and there. The setting is not much of a driver for the story but there are certain places such as, his boyfriends old bedroom, that starts becoming important later in the story. It basically just shows that he is in high school and that gives the reader a hint of the struggles that happen in high school especially for a boy that has so much going on in his life. Other than that there is not much description about where he lives and goes to school.

Theme:

We are the Ants shows the reader just how large the universe is and how our actions ultimately don’t matter in the end. If are worried about grades in school, what has happened in the past, or what happening now we shouldn’t be because it doesn’t matter all that much.

Evaluation:

This book was fantastic. It deals with possible problems that any person on the Earth could deal with in their lifetime. The writing definitely proves that the narrator is a high school student. Henry is easy to relate to but also impossible to understand. I enjoyed the relationships between him and his friends, family and Diego Vega. You learn about each person slowly throughout the book which was nice. I didn’t have to learn about this person with all these experiences in one page. I gradually got to know them like it was a real life interaction.

Henry Denton was not my favorite character in the novel. I found him to be quite annoying at moments. He could never decide what he wanted from a person at any given moment. He compared Diego to his former boyfriend that had committed suicide. I don’t fancy comparing two people because human beings are all different. I do realize he is in high school trying to find himself but his personality wasn’t my cup of tea.

Throughout the story there were facts that were made up by Henry and it was interesting to see what he had come up with. They were some of my favorite parts of the novel. They often dealt with serious issues that were going on in the world but it had a twist that probably would never happen.

The writing style was very simple which made it a bit of a faster read, which I did enjoy.

One of the issues I had that brought my rating down was the romance in the novel. I’m not big on cheesy romance and it happens quite a bit. There are some raunchy parts as well mixed in. I do understand that he was trying to find himself but it wasn’t for me.

Overall:

I would encourage anyone to read this novel. I will definitely try to read other novels by Shaun David Hutchinson. I borrowed this book from the library so I would buy it for my shelves. I believe this book has made good points about what life really is about. We really just are the ants in the grand scheme of things. It is a great message and I think if you read this book more than once you will probably learn something new every time. Give this novel a chance.

Thank you.

Library Book Haul!

We are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson

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