Pasadena Public Library
–review by Kara, teen reviewer Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo ***SPOILERS for those who have not read the first two books in the series: Shadow and Bone & Siege and Storm.*** We last saw Alinas as she was going underground with the Apparat and we pick up with her being […]
May’s book discussion pick was Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo What we did Shadow and Bone author Leigh Bardugo brightened up our meeting by joining us via Skype! Each attendee asked multiple questions about the book, her ideas, and career. We also discussed her book at length […]
–review by Kara, teen reviewer Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys Lina and her family are taken during the middle of the night by the NKVD, who are known today as the KGB. Lina and her family are deported from their home country of Lithuania and charged under Soviet Penal […]
–review by Josh, teen reviewer The Stranger by Albert Camus The concept of this novel alone is thought-provoking enough to spend hours analysing. A man arrives in a city in France after his mother dies, and after killing someone in self-defense, is put on trial; the main driving force of […]
–review by Josh, teen reviewer The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner Grammatical rules become non-existent, time irrelevant, and confusion normal in this emotionally-charged novel about a family and their mentally retarded son; but goddamn, it’s sure done well. Faulkner divides the book into three separate sections, each of […]
Our April book was Legend by Marie Lu Summary: In a dark future, when North America has split into two warring nations, fifteen-year-old Day–a famous criminal, and prodigy June–the brilliant soldier hired to capture him, discover that they have a common enemy. Legend is the first book in […]
–review by Josh, teen reviewer The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams This play by Tennessee Williams, written in 1944, is largely responsible for launching him into fame and recognition within the literary world. It is short and stark, but undeniably it remains one of the finest plays of the first […]
–review by Josh Bramon (teen) The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O’Neill The bleak setting, the common yet complex characters, the prolonged scenes of inebriated barroom chatter, the characters ranging from the raving drunkard, to the down-on-their-luck prostitutes of New York, all meld together to form a multi-layered exploration of humanity. Externally, […]
During February’s YA Book Group meeting, we discussed the Divergent series by Veronica Roth and got an opportunity to watch an advance screening of the movie! Basic facts: It’s a YA dystopian trilogy (well, how many YA dystopians are not trilogies? =) Summary: In a future Chicago, sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior […]
–review by Stacia, teen reviewer Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi Ostracized or incarcerated her whole life, seventeen-year-old Juliette is freed on the condition that she use her horrific abilities in support of The Reestablishment, a post-apocalyptic dictatorship, but Adam, the only person ever to show her affection, offers hope of […]