Summer passing

suspended zone
The beginning of the rest of my life

I went on a bit of a book binge recently since I joined GoodReads. Below is a list of books I read, including a bunch of YA literature that was rated highly on the site.

Booklist:
The Barrytown Trilogy (3.5/5)
The Alchemist (2/5)
Time Traveler's Wife (2.5/5)
The Midnighter's Trilogy (3.5/5)
The Uglies Trilogy (4/5)
Twilight Trilogy (3/5)

None of this list really consists of great literature, but they were all pretty fun to read. I liked the Barrytown Trilogy a lot, revolving around the lives of Rabbitte family in Dublin. The books complement each other nicely, building up to a nice cohesive whole, but the gem of the three is definitely The Van. The Van is about Jimmy Sr. (the best character out of the trilogy) who starts a fish and chips truck stand with a friend and the hysterical, sad, moving situations that follow. I can't judge totally subjectively, because I read all the novels in order, but maybe it wouldn't be as powerful without the other books as well (i.e. the character development you see in Jimmy Sr. as he confronts the fact that his daughter is pregnant).

The Alchemist and Time Traveler's Wife are both totally overrated books. Referring to the first, I know that self help/enlightenment books have to be overly simplistic and trite, but this one is really going too far. My problem with the Time Traveler's Wife (probably accentuated by the fact that I was aware of its existence for a long time before I tried reading it) is that it that the writing style is mediocre though the concept of the story has so much potential. What is worse, is that Niffengger puts in all these pop culture and literature references in an attempt to make this into some kind of loftier literature, which it is absolutely not. I expected more from the reviews I read beforehand. Additionally, Clare and Henry are too good looking and "attractive" as people. They are also way too well read, artsy, and cool...which is not at all convincing. However, it was fun to read unlike the first, which was kind of a drag.

The last several trilogies fall into the YA (young adult) category of lit. It is mildly embarrassing to admit, but I am unapologetic about liking these types of books. Scott Westerfield writes sci-fi topics in a realistic way. I really liked the Uglies trilogy especially...where he presents all these interesting ideas in a highly digestible and entertaining way. The Moonlighters trilogy doesn't end that strongly in my opinion, but it was also highly entertaining. Finally, the Twilight series (now a major motion picture), was pretty ridiculous, but I still enjoyed it. I have a weak spot for vampires and sappy romance.